


When the Day Met the Night

by marichatting



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Identity Reveal, Marichat, Rebellious Adrien Agreste, accidental reveal, adrienette - Freeform, kind of?, tw body image/body shaming/weight gain, tw brief transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 31,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marichatting/pseuds/marichatting
Summary: 17-year-old Adrien Agreste was never allowed to attend a real school. Instead, he was forced to focus on his career.17-year-old Marinette can't stand Adrien, seeing him as the annoying teen model who dominates the magazines and television interviews.Meanwhile, Ladybug and Chat Noir are in madly in love with each other, but they can't be together.One night, worlds collide when Chat Noir saves Marinette's life, kicking off a chain of events that would change them forever.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 41
Kudos: 224





	1. Adrien Agreste: New Man

**Author's Note:**

> Guys. I started this in late March and finished it last night. 31k words in about a month and a half. I think that's the most efficient I've ever been in my entire life and I'm so proud of myself for it.
> 
> Also, if anyone out there is still waiting on the sequel to Welcome to New York......... lol. Don't get your hopes up any time soon. Last summer, my flashdrive broke, and I lost a few thousand words of it. Not a huge loss, but it did cause me to lose a scene that I really didn't enjoy writing and didn't want to have to write again, so I've barely been able to force myself to work on it since then. Massive writer's block. Sorry about that.
> 
> Also: I'm kind of burned out and exhausted and just wanna get this thing posted, so I made the executive decision not to proofread this literally at all. So. Bear with me here.

“Adrien, are you ready?”

In the mirror sitting in front of him, Adrien saw Nathalie standing in the doorway to his dressing room, clutching a clipboard.

“You’re on in five.”

Adrien nodded and ran his fingers through his hair one last time. “Yeah. I’m ready to go.”

He stood and walked toward the door, but she put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, then started fidgeting with his hair. He pushed her hand away.

“Come on, Nathalie,” he groaned. “I’m seventeen. I can do my own hair.”

“Yes, but you have a piece out of place-”

“It’s fine,” he insisted. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

She huffed. “Fine. Hurry up and get to the stage- don’t miss your cue.”

Adrien laughed and walked past her into the hallway. “Please. I’ve done this a thousand times, and when have I  _ ever _ missed a cue?”

“Well, there was the spring fashion show four years ago when you insisted you were grown up and didn’t need my help anymore,” Nathalie began, walking briskly beside him. “Then there was that radio interview when you were fifteen and were in the bathroom when you were supposed to be in the studio, your father’s Christmas gala last year where you were supposed to give a speech but got there an hour too late…”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he laughed as he got near the stage and smiled in greeting at the stagehand who was waiting to inspect and approve his appearance. “But that’s all in the past. I’m a new man now.”

“Your fly is down,” the stagehand said.

Adrien felt his face go bright red as he zipped up his pants. “Oops,” he giggled sheepishly and glanced back at Nathalie, who was staring at him with a quirked eyebrow.

“Okay,  _ new man,” _ she deadpanned. “You’re on.”

Adrien took a deep breath and plastered on the most award-winning smile he could muster up, then walked out onto the stage. He waved at the audience, which was mostly filled with teenage girls, and sat down in the chair next to the host.

“Hi, Adrien,” the woman said cheerfully. Adrien suddenly realized he couldn’t remember her name or which morning talk show he was currently appearing on.

“Hi, how are you?” he asked her, trying desperately to remember the host’s name.

“I’m just dandy!” she answered excitedly. “How are you?”

“I’m doing great, and I’m super excited to be here,” he lied.

His brain quickly went on autopilot, answering questions without really thinking about them at all. His answers were all thoroughly rehearsed, anyways; when the show sent over the list of questions last week, Nathalie had written his answers for him and made him memorize them so that his muscle memory did the interview for him. That was how most of these interviews worked; he rarely had to use any brainpower for them.

The fact that his interview responses were entirely fake stopped bothering him a while ago. Well, it didn’t necessarily stop bothering him; he just learned to live with it. He just tried to avoid thinking about the fact that he hated the “Adrien Agreste” persona with all his heart, as well as the fact that all those teenage girls out in the audience who claimed to love him had no idea who he really was since he had never given a genuine answer to an interviewer in his life. He told himself that if he just ignored it and didn’t think about it, it wouldn’t bother him so much.

So, he didn’t think about it. He learned the flashcards that Nathalie gave him, he recited them on camera, he got good publicity, and he kept his father happy. He ignored the real Adrien that was trapped inside of him screaming to be let out, pushed him deep down inside until he couldn’t hear him anymore.

Immediately after the interview was over, Nathalie and the Gorilla escorted him outside. When they walked out the exit and into the bright morning sun, he saw dozens of girls lined up behind a barricade screaming at him. Several feet ahead of him waited the limo, with Chloé leaning against it and waiting for him.

Her face lit up when she saw him. “Adrikins!” She squealed excitedly and ran toward him, tackling him in a hug. He smiled brightly, returned her tight embrace, and lifted her into the air, and when her feet were back on the ground, he kissed her. She took his hand and led him into the limo while he waved at the fans. Once they were seated in the limo, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as the Gorilla shut the door.

As soon as they turned the corner away from the fans and the cameras, he took his arm from its spot draped over her shoulders, and she moved away from him to the other side of the limo.

“I swear,” Chloé said. “If I have to kiss a man  _ one more time _ I’m going to vomit.”

“Gee, thanks, Chlo,” Adrien said shortly.

Chloé rolled her eyes. “Come on,  _ Adrikins,” _ she drawled, elbowing him in the ribs with a fond, teasing smile. “You know it’s nothing personal. I’m just-”

“A raging lesbian,” Adrien finished for her. “Yes, you’ve informed me. Several times.”

Chloé laughed. “Anyways, how did the interview go?”

Adrien sighed. “Boring as ever.”

“Remember all your lines?”

“Of course. I’m no amateur.”

Chloé gasped. “Oh, I almost forgot! I have the most ridiculous story to tell you- do you remember me telling you about that girl I used to have a crush on for a couple of years before I came to my senses?”

Adrien thought about it. “Yeah, the one in your class- the one who hates you. Mary, or something.”

Chloé shrugged. “Close enough. Anyways, she’s been particularly insufferable lately. She and her friend Alya are on this whole, like,  _ mission _ to get the school to serve better food. They’ve been staging protests in the cafeteria, and they’ve gotten a bunch of kids from our class to join in. It’s super annoying.”

Adrien smiled. “It sounds cool. Maybe you should try to be nice to her and become friends.”

She shook her head with an over dramatic huff. “You’re too naive to understand. If you went to my school, you would get it.”

Adrien sighed wistfully. “I  _ wish _ I could go to your school.”

“I still can’t believe your dad won’t let you go to a real school,” Chloé said.

“Yeah, he’s always been against it,” Adrien said. “He says I’m safer at home. But after that time when I was thirteen and enrolled myself in school behind his back and tried to sneak into class, he  _ really  _ put his foot down.”

“I wish you were in school with me,” Chloé lamented. “Maybe then it wouldn’t be so miserable all the time. Plus, you could find yourself a  _ real _ girlfriend, and  _ I _ wouldn’t have to pretend to date you.”

“Doesn’t your dad want you to ‘date’ a guy for the public image aspect?” he asked, doing air quotes with his fingers.

“Yeah, but if you had a  _ real _ girlfriend, I could probably get out of it. Then I might not repel cute girls so much.”

“That might be the perfume.”

She scowled and smacked his arm. He laughed.

“Speaking of you getting a girlfriend,” she continued, her voice hushed so Nathalie and the Gorilla wouldn’t hear. “How’s it going with that girl you like? Have you asked her out yet?”

Adrien’s breath hitched as his mind was suddenly flooded with thoughts of her. “I told you, I already asked her out, and she rejected me.”

“It’s been a while, though, hasn’t it?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then you should try again. Her feelings might have changed.”

“You think so?”

Chloé nodded encouragingly.

Adrien nodded slowly. “I- I’m seeing her tonight. Maybe I’ll ask her then.”

Chloé beamed. “Good luck. I’m rooting for you.”

Adrien turned his head to look out the window at the passing city. His heart sped up a bit when he thought about the possibility of Ladybug saying yes.


	2. The Umbrella (or Lack Thereof) Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette desperately needs an umbrella, and Chat Noir is in the right place at the right time.

Marinette and Alya were chatting on the couch with a morning talk show playing in the background when, suddenly, Adrien Agreste popped up on the screen.

“Ooh, Mari,” Alya winked at her. “It’s the love of your life,  _ Adrien _ .”

Marinette scowled. “Ew. Change the channel.”

Alya laughed and turned the volume up. “I can’t believe you still hate him so much.”

Marinette shook her head and looked at the blond’s face on the screen. “Honestly, I can’t even explain  _ why. _ He just annoys me.”

“Yeah,” Alya agreed. “But he sure is nice to look at.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Just give me the remote.”

Alya kept the remote in her own hand. “I don’t get why you hate him so much. You don’t even know him.”

“I know he’s dating Chloé, and frankly, that’s all the information I need.” She reached for the remote.

“Sure, but you  _ love _ Gabriel,” Alya pointed out, holding the remote out of her reach. “I would think you’d like Adrien, too.”

“Gabriel is a genius designer, but his son has  _ no _ personality.” Marinette shook her head. “He always just seems so…  _ fake. _ Like everything he’s ever said was scripted.” She looked at the TV.

“I love my fans,” Adrien beamed a smile that looked too perfect to be real. “I couldn’t be here without them. They made me who I am today, and I’m so glad they helped give me all these opportunities I’ve been granted.”

“Opportunities like what?” the talk show host sitting opposite him asked.

“Like getting to be here today, and getting to work as hard as I can to represent the  _ Gabriel _ brand.”

Marinette and Alya exchanged a look.

“Okay, I see what you mean,” Alya conceded. “That did seem scripted. There’s no way any human being actually talks like that.”

“Especially a teenage boy,” Marinette agreed.

“But you never know,” Alya argued. “He might be different in real life. You  _ might _ like him if you got to know him.”

“He’s probably an arrogant butthead in real life,” Marinette protested. “Do I need to remind you again that he’s dating  _ Chloé?” _

“Well, okay, I’ll give you that.”

***

When Marinette left her home that night to meet Chat Noir for patrol, she didn’t expect to go home crying. In fact, she was excited for patrol and looking forward to seeing her crime-fighting partner. After all, she had had a crush on him for most of the time they had been working together.

He was truly one of the most amazing people in her life. He was her best friend- tied with Alya, of course. He was supportive, kind, reliable, funny, and he  _ always _ had her back. He made her knees feel weak, made her heart flutter, made the butterflies come to life- honestly, how could she  _ not _ love him?

However, romantic involvement with a superhero is tricky- especially when you are also a superhero. They had a job to do, and as long as Hawkmoth was still terrorizing the city, they had a responsibility to keep their relationship professional. Marinette didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their partnership or risk the safety of the city.

But it hurt.

For the past four years, Marinette had been madly, deeply in love with Chat Noir, and she knew for a fact that he liked her back. He had said so on multiple occasions, and he had asked her out several times. And every time, she had had to reject him- and her heart broke all over again.

Tonight, unfortunately, was no different.

He asked her on a date just before they parted ways at the end of patrol. Her whole body went numb.

She looked at that tiny glimmer of hope in his green eyes. She hated to crush it, especially since it meant crushing her own heart along with it.

“I’m sorry, Chat,” she said, her voice hardly audible as she forced out the words, which pained her with every syllable. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

His tail and cat ears drooped. “Oh,” he said in a tiny voice. “Okay. Um. See you later, Ladybug.”

Ladybug’s breath hitched as he turned and leapt off the rooftop. He almost never called her Ladybug. He  _ always _ called her by a nickname.

She felt a drop of rain hit the top of her head and looked up.

_ I should get home, _ she thought.

But she didn’t move. She felt glued to her spot on the rooftop as tears welled up in her eyes. There was a painful lump in her throat, and her eyes burned. Finally, she erupted into sobs and collapsed, putting her head in her hands.

For a few minutes, she simply sat there and cried. When the rain really started to come down and her eyes were still blurry with tears, she knew it was too dangerous to swing home. She would have to walk.

She dropped down into a secluded alley nearby and detransformed.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki’s voice was sad.

Marinette sniffed. “I guess.”

She didn’t have an umbrella or a hood, so she was completely drenched within seconds of beginning her walk home. Fortunately, she was only a few minutes away from her house.

As she walked, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. She kept wiping her eyes, but it did nothing; the tears kept coming and the rain kept falling. She could hardly see through it all, but she kept walking, desperate to get home, dry off, and go to bed.

As she was rubbing at her eyes, she suddenly felt the ground disappear beneath her foot. She yelped as she stumbled. Her eyes went wide, and when she saw headlights coming directly toward her and heard the honking of a car, she realized she had just stepped off the curb. She gasped.

Before she could react, she felt a pair of strong arms scoop her up and carry her at full speed to the other side of the street, setting her down on the sidewalk underneath an awning over the door to a flower shop. She was breathing hard, her heart racing.

“Are you okay?” a familiar voice asked her. She looked up to see none other than Chat Noir crouching over her, his hair dripping wet and his eyes wide.

“Um. I’m fine. Th- thank you.”

“What are you doing out here?” he asked. “You shouldn’t be out in this weather. It’s too dangerous.”

“I was on my way home,” she explained. “But I didn’t know it was going to rain, and I didn’t have an umbrella, and the water was in my eyes, and-”

“Hey, calm down,” he said, his voice low and soft. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and her heart skipped a beat. “Do you need help getting home?”

“Oh, that’s okay, you don’t need to-”

“No, I insist. I don’t want you walking out into traffic again.”

She looked down at her lap and nodded. “Thank you.”

The next thing she knew, he was carrying her bridal-style over the streets of Paris while she clung to his neck. It was surreal. She had experienced the city from this perspective a thousand times, but never as a civilian- never when she wouldn’t have the power to save herself should she fall.

And yet, she wasn’t afraid. Maybe it was because of how much she trusted Chat, or his firm grasp on her body, or the comforting warmth of his arms encasing her, or the fact that she could feel his heart beating, or a combination of everything. Whatever it was, she felt safe.

When they landed on her balcony, she was almost disappointed. Despite how desperate she had been to get home quickly just minutes ago, she didn’t want this to end.

Chat gently lowered her onto her feet. The rain had mostly let up by that point, so she hesitated before going inside.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“Of course,” he nodded. “Be careful out there, okay?”

He turned to leave and Marinette’s stomach plummeted. She wanted him to stay.

_ No, he can’t stay, _ she scolded herself internally.  _ We can’t get involved. We have to keep our partnership intact. _

She bit her bottom lip as he headed for the railing at the edge of the balcony.

_ But… he doesn’t know I’m Ladybug right now. If he got involved with Marinette, it wouldn’t be as bad, right? It wouldn’t harm the partnership. Right? _

In the fraction of a second it took for her to convince herself, Chat was almost gone. Before he could leap away from her, she reached forward and grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” she said, impulsively pulling him back.

He looked back at her with his eyebrows raised. “Yeah? Do you need something else?”

She felt her cheeks turn pink. “Um. You should… stay for a minute. Come inside.”

His eyes grew slightly wider. “Uh. I- thank you, but I can’t.”

“No, I insist,” Marinette said, her voice urgent. “I… I want to thank you for all your help. My parents run a bakery, and it’s just downstairs- I can run down and get you something to eat. As a thank-you.”

He hesitated, glancing back and forth between her and the Parisian skyline. Finally, he shrugged. “I could eat.”

She smiled, her heart fluttering in her chest. “Okay. Cool.” She turned and led the way to the trapdoor in the floor.

“Hey, I never got your name,” he said.

“Oh,” she responded as she unlocked the door with a key on the necklace she wore- a Ladybug thing, of course. “It’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

He hummed. “Pretty name. Nice to meet you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

She swallowed hard, but her throat was dry. “Thank you. Nice to meet you, too, Chat Noir.”

With that, she dropped through the trapdoor and landed on her bed with a bounce. Chat soon followed suit.

She ran into the bathroom and grabbed a towel for him.

“Here,” she said, tossing it to him. “Dry yourself off a bit. I’ll go downstairs and get you something to eat.”

“Thanks.”

She returned a few minutes later with a bag full of pastries. How was she supposed to pick just  _ one _ pastry to give to the love of her life?

When she entered her bedroom, he was milling about the room looking at the various posters and designs scattered everywhere.

“Oh, wow,” he said when he saw how many desserts she had brought for him. He quickly took the bag from her. “This… you didn’t have to do this.”

“Of course I did,” she responded. “You saved my life. It’s the least I can do.”

He looked down at his feet. She went into the bathroom to change into a dry pair of pajamas, then wrapped a towel around her head.

“So, you like fashion, huh?” he said when she returned.

“Oh, yeah,” she responded. “I love it. I’d, um, like to be a designer someday. Maybe.” She let out an awkward laugh. “I mean, I know it’s an unrealistic goal, but-”

“I don’t think it’s that unrealistic,” he assured her. He held up one of her sketches from her desk. “Did you design this?”

She nodded, her cheeks growing warm.

“Wow,” he breathed, looking at it again. “This is amazing. You have some real talent here.”

“You- you think so?”

“Totally,” he grinned. “I  _ love _ this one with the empire waist.” He pointed at a design that was pinned to the wall. “And this cardigan is amazing!”

She smiled. “You… know about designing?”

He froze for a moment, as if caught doing something he shouldn’t. “I- um- I know a bit about fashion, yes. It’s kind of… a family thing.”

“That’s so cool,” she beamed. “Most of the guys at my school don’t even know what a cardigan is.”

“Well, I’m not most guys.” He winked at her, and Marinette felt her heart stop for a brief moment. He didn’t seem to notice her near-death experience and turned back to the wall to inspect the posters and magazine covers pinned up.

“You like Gabriel Agreste?” he asked, looking at a magazine cover that featured the designer.

“Of course,” Marinette gushed. “He’s my favorite designer  _ ever. _ He’s a genius.”

Chat merely hummed in response.

“Well, anyway, I should probably get going,” he said, going to pick up the bag of pastries. “Thank you so much for having me over, and for the pastries.” He laughed as he tried to lug the bag up to her bed. “Wow. This is heavy. If you’re going to feed me so much, maybe I should come back again.”

She looked at him. “I… wouldn’t mind that.”

He paused underneath the trapdoor. “I’ll… see you around, Marinette.”

She nodded. “See you.”

With that, he disappeared through the trapdoor, taking his pastries with him. When Marinette poked her head through the door, she saw him leaping over buildings, the bulky bag swinging along with him.

With an enormous exhale, she collapsed onto her bed.

Chat Noir, the love of her life, had just been  _ in her bedroom. _

She giggled and shook her head, hardly processing the fact.

That night, her dreams were filled with cute green-eyed boys, fluffy cats, and mountains of pastries.


	3. Gabriel Agreste: Father of the Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel defeats the clearly evil pastries.

He couldn’t get her out of his head.

He knew it was ridiculous. He just met her  _ yesterday. _ There was no reason he should be so fixated on her, unable to focus or think about anything else.

Yet here he was, staring at his physics assignment without processing anything he was reading, haunted by her laugh and visions of her blue eyes.

He knew he shouldn’t go back to visit her. He was a superhero, and he had a responsibility to the city.

Plus, there was still Ladybug. She may not love him back, but he certainly still loved  _ her. _ He always had. How was he supposed to forget about her and move on to Marinette?

He shook his head. Ladybug had been rejecting him for four years, including last night. She didn’t feel the same way he did, and he would just have to accept that.

But still, it would be hard to get over her, even if Marinette liked him. Even if he liked her.

But  _ did _ he like her? They had hardly spent any time together, but in that one night, Chat felt a sort of connection with her that he had never felt with Ladybug before. Well,  _ he  _ had felt it, but it was always one-sided; he had never felt it  _ reciprocated _ before that night.

In truth, Marinette was a lot like Ladybug. They were both strong, independent, funny, breathtakingly beautiful- but they were also different. Marinette was a lot more open with him than Ladybug had ever been in their four years of working together. While Ladybug closed herself off from him to keep their relationship professional, Marinette actually let him in. He and Marinette were so comfortable with each other it felt as if they were already best friends. She was familiar in a way he couldn’t place- he felt as if he had known her for years.

He shook her head. This was ridiculous. They met  _ yesterday- _ there was no way he could possibly be feeling like this about her. No way. Not in a million years. Not after he had been madly in love with Ladybug for four years and she had broken his heart  _ again _ just last night.

And anyways, he had a duty to fulfill. His responsibility as Chat Noir was to protect the city, not to flirt with cute girls. He shouldn’t use his miraculous for romantic purposes.

He wouldn’t go back. He couldn’t.

***

“Adrien,” his father greeted him coldly at the doors when he returned from his fencing lesson that evening.

“Hello, father,” he said in response. “Is everything okay?”

“Quite frankly, no,” Gabriel stared down at him, his expression unreadable. “Nathalie?”

Nathalie walked out of Gabriel’s office carrying a large, familiar bag: the bag of pastries Marinette had given him. His stomach lurched with panic.

“Nathalie found this in your room while you were out,” Gabriel informed him. “Care to explain?”

Adrien’s mind was racing a mile a minute trying to find a valid excuse. “Um. I stopped by a bakery on my way home yesterday to, uh… get some pastries as gifts for the staff!”

Gabriel glared at him. “Don’t lie to me, Adrien.”

The blond sighed. “Fine. They were for me. But I wasn’t going to eat them all at once, okay? I was going to make them last a while, and-”

“You  _ know _ you’re not allowed to have sweets,” his father admonished him. “You are on a very strict diet, and I will not allow you to stray from it.”

“But father, a pastry every now and then won’t hurt-”

“Enough,” Gabriel interrupted, raising his voice. “I’ve heard enough from you. Clearly I can’t trust you to walk yourself home anymore- the Gorilla will drive you everywhere from now on.”

“But Father-”

“Go to your room.”

Adrien hung his head, defeated, and trudged up the stairs.

His throat burned as he closed and locked his bedroom door behind him, tears beginning to pool in his eyes as he clenched his fists.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He  _ needed _ to get out of this house- even if just for the night.

He needed to go to Marinette.

***

After landing on her balcony, he lightly knocked on her trapdoor.

He shook his head. This was a dumb idea. What was even  _ doing _ here? He shouldn’t have-

The trapdoor swung open, and Marinette was smiling up at him.

“Chat!” she greeted him happily. “You came back!”

He smiled. “Hi, Marinette.”

“Come in!”

She moved out of the way, and he dropped through the trapdoor onto her bed, then climbed down the ladder onto her bedroom floor.

“How are you?” she asked. “You seem upset.”

Wow. She was perceptive. Usually he hid his emotions well enough that only the people who knew him best could tell when he was upset- namely Nathalie, Chloé, and Ladybug. Even his own father couldn’t read him that well.

He shrugged. “I kind of got in a fight with my father. I just wanted to get out and get some fresh air.”

She grinned. “How about fresh  _ cookies?” _

He considered it. His father had just yelled at him for eating too many sweets, and he didn’t want to make that mistake again.

Although, on the other hand, his father would never know. Eating the cookies would be like his own secret revolution.

He nodded. “That sounds great.”

***

After eating their cookies, they decided to boot up Marinette’s gaming system and play a few rounds of Mario Kart.

In all honesty, Chat almost felt bad for her. He had been cooped up in his house with no friends for years, which meant he had had  _ plenty _ of time for video games, and he was the  _ master _ at Mario Kart. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

“What?!” Chat exclaimed as Marinette leaped into the air victoriously. “No way. You cheated.”

Marinette grinned a smug grin.. “Sorry, Kitty- I won, fair and square.”

Chat crossed his arms and pouted. “I demand a rematch.”

Marinette laughed. “Sorry, but I can’t tonight. I have school in the morning, and it’s already late.”

Chat mentally face-palmed. Of  _ course _ she had school in the morning. He should’ve known that- but then again, being homeschooled, it was easy to forget about other people needing to get up early.

He glanced at the clock on her desk. It was nearly one in the morning. He should’ve left hours ago.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “I should be getting home anyways. Have fun at school tomorrow.”

She smiled. “Thanks. Get home safe.”

He nodded and climbed back through the trapdoor, then poked his head back through to look at her.

“But mark my words: next time, I will  _ destroy _ you at Mario Kart.”


	4. Truce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which tears are shed.

His arms were wrapped around her, and it just felt  _ right. _ He was warm, and she felt safe, just like the night he saved her life and carried her home. It seemed like forever ago.

She pulled away from the embrace and looked up at him. “How did I get so lucky to have a boyfriend like you?”

He smiled. “Please.  _ I’m _ the lucky one here.”

His hand came up to stroke her hair gently. His face softened.

“I love you, Marinette.”

Her eyes went wide as she looked at him. His deep green eyes were earnest. Chat took her hands in his.

“Do you love me too?”

She nodded, her heart racing. “Of course. I love you  _ so _ much.”

He smiled and started to lean in toward her. She closed her eyes, leaned in, and tried to fight down a blush.

“Marinette…”

She paused and opened her eyes to look at him. “Yes, Chaton? Is something wrong?”

He furrowed his brow. “Marinette.”

“What? What is it?”

“Marinette.” She narrowed her eyes. His voice sounded weird now. Almost like… Alya?

“Marinette!”

Marinette sat bolt upright with a small yelp. When she looked around, she realized she was sitting at her desk at school. She wiped some drool from her chin. Thankfully, the teacher was nowhere to be seen.

“Girl, what is wrong with you?” Alya asked. “I’ve been saying your name for, like, five minutes. Why are you so tired?”

_ Because Chat Noir kept me up all night playing Mario Kart and eating cookies, _ Marinette thought.

She shrugged. “I just didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Why?” Alya asked. “You’ve never had sleeping troubles before.”

“Um. I was up all night because, uh… I had forgotten about that essay that was due today. I wrote it all last night.”

Alya shook her head. “You’ve got to get a planner or something.”

Marinette laughed. “Would you believe me if I told you I have one?”

“No way.”

“Yep. I use glitter pens in it and everything.”

Alya shook her head incredulously. “And you’re still forgetting about assignments and arriving at everything late. Unbelievable. That takes talent, you know.”

“And as we all know, I am  _ incredibly _ talented,” Marinette grinned.

Alya snickered. “Yes, you’re the most  _ talented _ person I know.”

“I wouldn’t go  _ that _ far,” Chloé muttered as she walked past them.

Marinette rolled her eyes. Chloé had definitely improved over the last few years, and she was generally nicer to most people these days- just not to her.

“What is your problem, Chloé?” she demanded. “I didn’t do anything to you. We were minding our own business. Why did you have to butt into our private conversation like that?”

Chloé huffed. “I just didn’t want you getting a big head.”

“You mean like  _ yours?” _

Chloé scowled. “You know what, Marinette? I may have a big head, but I’m not the only one around here who thinks she’s all that. At least  _ I _ don’t go around interrupting people’s lunches with stupid  _ protests-” _

“You know as well as I do that the food in the cafeteria was crap before we got the school board to change it **,”** Marinette interrupted, standing from her seat. “If  _ any other person _ in this room was trying to make a change and get us better food, you wouldn’t care. The only reason you have a problem with it is because it’s me.”

“And what about it?” Chloé retorted.

“What did I even  _ do _ to you?” Marinette asked, raising her voice. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Because-” Chloé hesitated. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Yeah, because you don’t have a  _ reason _ to hate me,” Marinette argued. “You just hate me for the sake of hating me, and you know what? I’m done with it! I’m not putting up with your bullcrap anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Marinette took two steps closer to her. “It means that I’ve been tolerating this for  _ years, _ but I’m not going to let myself get treated like this anymore. So you’d better go sit your butt down and leave me alone before I-”

“Before you what?” Chloé challenged her, stepping closer to her so that their faces were mere inches apart. “Before you bake cookies and decorate them with a mean word? Before you sew an ugly dress to give to me?” Chloé laughed. “Please, Dupain-Cheng. We both know that you’re not going to do anything to me. You’re too scared and pathetic.”

“Girls,” a stern voice interrupted. Their heads whipped around to see Mme Bustier glaring at them. “Principal’s office.  _ Now.” _

Marinette gave Chloé one last deadly glare before stalking out of the classroom ahead of her.

***

They got detention. It wasn’t the first time Marinette had had detention, but it  _ was _ the first time she’d had to suffer through detention with  _ Chloé _ .

The air was tense while they scraped gum off the bottoms of desks in silence. Marinette didn’t want to start another fight and get into even more trouble, so she took special care not to breathe in Chloé’s direction.

Which was why she was surprised when Chloé initiated the conversation.

“Look, Marinette,” she said, her voice surprisingly soft. “A friend of mine recently told me that I should try to make nice with you, and I don’t want him to be disappointed in me, so… how about a truce?”

Marinette raised her eyebrows in surprise. “A truce? I wouldn’t have expected this from you.”

“I know,” Chloé agreed. “But I’ve been trying to be a better person lately, thanks to this friend of mine, and I don’t want this bad blood between us to keep making me revert back to that person I used to be.”

“Wow,” Marinette remarked. “That’s… really mature, Chloé.”

Chloé paused. “Thank you. So… how about it?”

Marinette hesitated for a long moment before nodding. “Okay, sure. Truce. I’m… sorry for how I acted today.”

Chloé offered a small smile. “I’m sorry, too. Honestly, I don’t even know why I said it. Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Marinette laughed. “Yeah, I guess they do.”

***

Chat Noir came back again that night. She was exhausted from the previous night combined with the weird day she had had, and she knew she shouldn’t stay up late again. Despite this, her heart did a happy little tap-dance when she heard him knock on the trapdoor.

“Hey, Kitty,” she greeted him fondly as he dropped down onto her bed. “Look, you know I like hanging out with you, but you can’t stay too late tonight, okay? I was exhausted at school all day today. Plus, I had a really weird day, and I should at least get  _ some _ sleep tonight.”

“Sorry, Marinette,” he said sheepishly. “I shouldn’t have kept you up so late.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a smile. “So… how about some cake?”

He grinned. “You know I can’t turn down cake.”

***

Despite her determination to go to bed at a reasonable time, she had no regrets about staying up late to watch a movie with him.

The initial plan had been to watch an episode or two of something on Disney+. But then while they were browsing, a movie caught their eyes, and against both of their better judgements, they ended up pressing play.

They started out in the two chairs at Marinette’s desk. They spun each other around a few times while they watched the movie. But eventually Marinette started to get tired, and she wanted to lie down.

That was how they both ended up lying next to each other in her bed. Marinette’s arm tingled where it touched his.

They were watching  _ The Last Song. _ Neither of them had ever seen it before, and they didn’t expect it to be such a tear-jerker.

Marinette sniffled, and Chat turned his head to look at her.

“Stop it,” he demanded. “Don’t do that.”

She furrowed her brow. “What?”

“Stop crying,” he insisted, his eyes beginning to turn glassy. “If you cry, then  _ I’m  _ gonna…” he sniffed.  _ “I’m _ gonna start crying.”

She laughed. “Aw, Chat. Don’t cry.”

He shook his head as tears welled up in his eyes. “Too late.”

She giggled fondly and passed him a tissue from the box she had on the headboard behind her. He dabbed at his eyes with it.

She’d seen him cry before, but only as Ladybug. It felt… different, somehow. He was close with Ladybug, obviously, and they had both cried in front of each other. They had a lot on their shoulders, so crying was no big deal to them. But when she wasn’t in the costume, it somehow felt… intimate, almost.

She didn’t like seeing him cry, but she definitely  _ did _ like that he felt comfortable enough to cry in front of her.

_ Both _ of her.


	5. Adrien is a Stupid Doodoohead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: WEIGHT GAIN/BODY IMAGE/BODY-SHAMING (I'll put a summary of the chapter at the end if you are sensitive to this and want to skip the chapter okay that's all thank you love you)
> 
> In which Gabriel is also a stupid doodoohead so it must run in the family.

Adrien gained nearly five pounds within a month of his first visit to Marinette’s house.

In all honesty, he wouldn’t have even noticed if his father didn’t make him weigh himself daily. However, he  _ was _ a model, and his father had him on a strict diet and exercise regimen, and Nathalie had been recording his daily weight every day for years. He had already been two pounds over his goal weight before he started eating baked goods with Marinette nearly every night; now he was nearly seven pounds too heavy, and he hadn’t strayed so far from his goal weight since he was a kid.

So, when Gabriel entered Adrien’s room one afternoon, Adrien knew he was screwed.

“Adrien,” Gabriel greeted him coldly. “I notice you’ve been gaining weight. Have you not been sticking to your diet regimen?”

Adrien’s stomach lurched. “Father, of course I have,” he lied.

“Really,” Gabriel deadpanned. “So, this isn’t at all related to the bag of sweets we found in your room last month?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I haven’t eaten any sweets since then.” It was a total lie, but Gabriel didn’t need to know that.

“Then what’s the problem? Why have you gained so much weight?”

“Maybe I just need to up my exercise routine,” Adrien suggested. “I’ll start working out more, and the extra weight will go away. I promise.”

Gabriel stared at him for a moment. “Fine.” With that, he turned and left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Adrien collapsed backwards onto his bed with a relieved sigh. He hated lying to his father, but what was he supposed to do? If he told the truth, Gabriel would have demanded to know where he was getting the sweets, and he still would’ve had to lie. Either that, or betray both Marinette  _ and _ his Chat Noir secret. So, lying was the only option in this case.

Still, he felt guilty. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be eating sweets, yet he had been pigging out at Marinette’s house every night for a month. It was irresponsible. He needed to get some self-control and stop it.

***

“Hey, do you want some cake?” Marinette asked him that night.

He shook his head. “No, thank you.”

“What about cookies?” she suggested. “Cupcakes?”

“No, no, I don’t need any sweets tonight.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really? That doesn’t sound like you. You almost have a bigger sweet tooth than  _ me- _ and that’s saying something.”

He shrugged. “I’m just not hungry.”

She laughed. “Okay, I know for a fact that  _ that’s  _ a lie. What’s going on?”

He sighed. “Look, I’ve been gaining weight, and my father took notice. I have to lose the weight before I get in even more trouble.”

Marinette looked him up and down. “You don’t even look bigger, though.”

“I’m seven pounds over my goal weight.”

She furrowed her brow. “Goal weight?”

Chat suddenly realized he had let too much slip. “Yeah, um. My father has a specific weight he wants me to be at.”

“Why?”

“It’s… kind of a work thing.”

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. “Well, whatever it is, it doesn’t seem good for you. I mean, maybe it’s none of my business, but you’ve looked underweight for, like,  _ years. _ I mean, my mom sees you on TV and makes comments about how you’re ‘too skinny’ and she needs to find a way to send you some pastries. Now you just look closer to normal human weight.”

He smiled. “That sounds like a very ‘mom’ thing to say.”

She laughed. “Yeah, she says that about everyone who seems slightly underweight. Even that stupid doodoohead Adrien Agreste.”

He froze.  _ Did she just call me a stupid doodoohead _ **_?_ **

“Did you just call Adrien Agreste a stupid doodoohead?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You, um… don’t like him?”

She wrinkled her nose as if she had smelled something bad. “Ew, no.”

He blinked. “Um. Why not?”

She shrugged. “He just annoys me.”

“But... you don’t even know him.”

“I know,” she agreed. “But every time I see him on TV, he seems so  _ fake, _ y’know? Like his whole life is scripted. He has no personality other than loving his fans and promoting his dad’s brand.”

“But you might like him if you actually got to know him.”

Marinette shrugged. “Maybe. Probably not.”

They watched  _ The Perks of Being a Wallflower _ that night, but Chat could hardly focus enough to pay attention to it. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Marinette had said about him.

How could she not like him? How was he  _ just _ finding out about this? This whole time, she had been hanging out with one of his identities while hating the other side of him? How could he continue to come here and hang out with her knowing that she hated him? Knowing that she wouldn’t want to be friends with him if she knew his identity? It felt deceptive. He didn’t even like lying to his dad- how was he supposed to lie to  _ Marinette _ and not feel guilty?

Maybe he could find a way to change her mind about him. If she didn’t dislike him so much, he might not feel as guilty about not telling her who he was.

But how could he even do that? It would be hard to defend himself without revealing his identity, and in all honesty, he wasn’t sure there was anything he could even say that would be able to convince Marinette.

But… maybe  _ Adrien _ could do something.

Marinette said that he always seemed fake and scripted, which was completely true. The “Adrien Agreste” persona  _ was _ completely fake and scripted. But if he did something that  _ wasn’t _ fake or scripted… maybe she would see that there was more to him than meets the eye.

At this point, it would have to be something big if he wanted to change her opinion of him. Plus, he couldn’t talk to her in person because The Gorilla drove him everywhere, so he’d have no chance to sneak away. How could he get her attention without even talking to her?

Suddenly, an idea came to his head. It was… crazy, honestly. Very drastic, especially considering the fact that he was doing it for a girl he just met a month ago.

However, it might help  _ him, _ too. If he went through with it, he would definitely get in loads of trouble with his father, but… it just might be worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary:
> 
> Adrien has put on a little bit of weight from eating pastries with Marinette and Gabriel gets mad and suspects him of not sticking to his diet. When Chat goes to Marinette's house that night, he doesn't accept any desserts from her. Marinette later mentions Adrien and calls him a "stupid doodoohead." Chat is upset to find out that Marinette doesn't like his civilian identity and comes up with a plan to try to win her over as Adrien.


	6. Adrien is in Big Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien puts his plan into motion and posts a scandalous video online.

“Marinette? You’re… Ladybug?”

Marinette’s heart skipped a beat when she looked at Alya’s wide, incredulous eyes. “Yes, I’m Ladybug.”

Alya burst into a fit of laughter.

“Holy crap, can you even  _ imagine?” _ she wheezed, clutching a Chat Noir action figure in her hand. “Like, imagine you  _ were _ Ladybug, and after all these years that I’ve been trying to figure out her identity, it turned out to be my  _ best friend _ the whole time!”

Marinette laughed half-heartedly, looking down at the Ladybug doll she had just claimed. “That would be… crazy.”

They were sitting on Alya’s bedroom floor doing one of Alya’s favorite pastimes: reenacting akuma attacks. Marinette, without thinking, had reached for the Ladybug doll and said, “I’m Ladybug.” Of course, Alya knew that she meant the doll. Not the person. Obviously.

Alya’s laughter finally died down after a minute and she took a breath. “Anyway, as I was saying: you’ll be Ladybug and I’ll be Chat Noir. Let’s reenact the Dark Cupid attack!”

Marinette winced. “Isn’t that the one where they… kissed?”

“Yup,” Alya said happily. “And proved to the world that they  _ are _ a couple.”

“But… what if it wasn’t real?” Marinette suggested, fiddling with the doll.

“They kissed during the Oblivio attack, too,” Alya reminded her.

“Yeah, but they didn’t even remember who they were, did they? And when Dark Cupid attacked, what if that kiss was strategic- just a battle move?”

“Why are you trying to ruin this for me?”

Marinette sighed. “I’m just saying. We haven’t seen them do anything romantic other than those two instances, so, like, what if they’re not actually dating?”

“Of course they are,” Alya said matter-of-factly. “I’ve seen the way they look at each other. They’re in love. They  _ have _ to be together.”

_ It’s not that simple, _ Marinette’s head was screaming, but she let it go.

“Okay,” Alya said, holding up her figurine. “Let’s start with-” she stopped abruptly when her phone buzzed. “Hold that thought.”

She grabbed her phone from her nightstand, her earbuds already plugged into it. She put one earbud in and stared at the screen with a furrowed brow. Marinette watched her face as it went from confused to shocked in mere moments.

Alya cursed under her breath and unplugged her earbuds. “He- he just- someone just sent me- on Instagram-” she shook her head incredulously, unable to get the words out. “You  _ have _ to watch this.”

Marinette scooted over beside her to look at the screen as Alya turned the volume up.

“Hey guys,” an annoyingly familiar face popped up on the screen: Adrien Agreste. Marinette rolled her eyes. “So, a lot of you guys know who I am, but you don’t really know  _ me. _ And that’s what I want to change today.”

She furrowed her brow and glanced at Alya, who was staring aptly at the phone screen.

“The truth is,” Adrien continued. “None of you know the real me. You all know the Adrien Agreste character my father makes me put on for the cameras. That’s not the real me- that’s a script that’s written for me. You know, I’ve never done  _ one _ interview that  _ wasn’t _ scripted and memorized.”

Marinette raised her eyebrows in surprise. What was he  _ doing? _

“And see, that’s a problem for me,” Adrien explained. “I hate that about myself. Because I have all these fans who say they love me and know everything about me, and it kills me to know that they  _ don’t _ know me. That everything they  _ do _ know about me is a lie.

“So, here’s who I really am: I’m a normal teenager with thoughts and feelings and flaws just like anyone else, not the perfect modeling robot my father wants you to believe I am.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Someone I care about recently brought to my attention that the ‘Adrien Agreste’ persona is… not working for me. I mean, I don’t even  _ like _ that guy. He’s annoying and  _ fake. _ And not me. I like video games. And anime. And junk food. I hate the diet my father makes me follow- did you guys know I’m not even allowed to have  _ any sweets? _ Like,  _ ever? _ And I’m not allowed to express an original thought on camera. If it’s not in the script, I can’t say it. And honestly? I’m sick of it. I’m sick of pretending to be someone I’m not. My fans deserve to know the real me- and so do I. So, nice to meet you, world. I’m Adrien. I can’t wait for us to get to know each other.”

And with that, the video ended.

The two girls sat in silence for a moment, still processing the teenage model’s speech.

“Wow,” Marinette finally breathed. “That was…”

“Drastic,” Alya finished for her. “There’s no way this is gonna fly with Gabriel. He’s gonna be in  _ huge _ trouble.”

Marinette turned her head to look at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Gabriel seems like a pretty tough guy to get along with,” Alya said. “I wouldn’t even want him as a  _ boss- _ he’s probably a nightmare as a  _ father. _ I mean, who doesn’t let their kid have  _ any _ sweets at all? And who forces their kid to memorize a script for his whole  _ life?” _

Marinette nodded. “Yeah, that… doesn’t sound fun.”

“That’s a massive understatement,” Alya said. “I mean, this guy just said that his  _ whole life _ has been scripted.”

“Not necessarily his  _ whole life-” _

“Just every interview he’s ever done,” Alya interrupted. “And hasn’t he been doing interviews since he was, like, ten? That’s a pretty big portion of his life. Plus, he’s been modeling since he was, like, five, or something, so Gabriel’s definitely been keeping him under his thumb his whole life.”

Marinette bit her bottom lip. “I guess.”

Alya’s face softened when she saw Marinette’s expression. “Sorry, Mari. I know Gabriel is, like, a big deal to you. I shouldn’t be talking bad about him.”

“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I mean, yeah, I’ve idolized him for years now, and he’s a huge inspiration to me, and he’s the reason I started designing in the first place, and he probably changed my life, but… if he’s actually treating his son this way, maybe he isn’t someone I should be looking up to after all.”

Alya smiled. “Hey, by the way, nice job on calling it about Adrien.”

Marinette furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

“Remember? You said he seemed like everything he said was scripted,” Alya reminded her. “It looks like you were right.”

Marinette looked down at the boy’s face frozen on the screen. “Yeah. It looks like it.”

***

It was midnight, and Marinette was lying awake, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the video.

She wasn’t sure why. After all, she didn’t even  _ like _ Adrien Agreste. But after seeing that video, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. If he really had been putting on a show this whole time and pretending to be someone he wasn’t just to appease his father… that had to be a horrible life to live.

Maybe she  _ was _ wrong about him.

Finally giving up on sleep, she huffed and rolled over to reach for her phone. Squinting against the light from the phone screen, she opened Instagram and pulled up Adrien’s page. She clicked on the most recent post, but it was just a picture from a photoshoot that had been posted a week ago.

The video was gone.


	7. Adrien's Big Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter you've all been waiting for.

“Never in my  _ life _ have I felt so disrespected. I’ve given you  _ everything, _ and despite this, you decide to go online and tell the world how much you  _ hate me _ , how awful a father I am, and how much you  _ hate your life?” _

Despite the fact that Nathalie had already taken Adrien's video down and locked him out of his own Instagram account, Gabriel had been yelling for the past hour, pacing back and forth in his office with Adrien sitting in a desk chair. It was the most Adrien could remember  _ ever _ hearing his father talk at once- and the loudest.

“I didn’t say any of that,” Adrien retorted, fighting against his instincts to keep quiet. “I just told the truth.”

“I don’t  _ care _ if it’s the truth,” Gabriel snapped. “It looks bad for the brand. Do you not understand that?  _ Both _ of our careers are at stake here. Our entire source of income, our livelihoods-”

“I don’t  _ care _ about the brand, Father,” Adrien raised his voice, standing up from the chair. “You’re one of the most successful designers in the world- It’s not like you’re going to lose business over this.”

“You don’t know that,” Gabriel insisted. “People these days are all about ‘canceling’ and ‘boycotting’ people they don’t like. Public image is  _ incredibly _ important here.”

“Not to me.”

Gabriel sneered. “Frankly, Adrien, I don’t  _ care _ what’s important to you. I am your father, and you  _ will _ do as I say and stop disobeying and disrespecting me.”

“Well, frankly,  _ Father,” _ Adrien took a step toward him. “I’m seventeen years old, and you can’t control me anymore.”

Gabriel raised his eyebrows in a challenge. “Is that so?”

Adrien crossed his arms. “Yes.”

“Are you forgetting that I’m not only your father, but your  _ boss?” _

Adrien paused for a split second before his mouth made a decision for him.

“Not anymore. I  _ quit.” _

Gabriel’s jaw dropped open. “You…  _ quit?” _

_ Apparently, _ Adrien thought.

“Yes,” he nodded. “I’m done being your little puppet.”

And with that, he stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind him.

When he reached his room, he collapsed onto his bed with a huge sigh of relief. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before his face broke into a grin and he let out a laugh. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

He was  _ free. _ His father couldn’t control him if he didn’t let him, right? He could do whatever he wanted.

He sat bolt upright as he was struck with an idea. He knew what he wanted.

He ran to his computer and pulled up the website for Chloé’s school, then clicked the “enrollment” tab.

***

Ladybug was staring at Chat. She knew she was doing it, but she couldn’t stop herself. It was the happiest she had seen him in a while- maybe  _ ever- _ and she couldn’t help but watch him, a smile on her face.

“You’re in a good mood,” she commented.

He smiled at her. It was the most genuine smile she had seen on his face in a long time. “I  _ am  _ in a good mood. Yesterday, I made a really big life decision, and… it changed  _ everything.” _

“And that’s good?”

He smiled even wider. “It’s  _ awesome.” _

She continued to watch him fondly the rest of their patrol. She had been able to tell that there was something wrong for a while. There was a sadness that had been subtly simmering under the surface for a while now; she could always sense it, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, but she was never able to discern the source. Every time she had asked if he was okay, he said he was great and changed the subject by flirting with her.

She was worried about him for a long time. She knew he lost his mother a few years ago, and although they both tried not to reveal too many details about their personal lives, she could tell he didn’t have a very good relationship with his father. She didn’t think he had any siblings. She was worried that he didn’t have any family left to help him through his mother’s death, and that he was just going to keep getting worse until he reached a breaking point.

Clearly, though, whatever choice he had made was a good one. She could see how much happier he was.

She just hoped he would stay that way.

***

That night after patrol, Marinette had only been home for a few minutes when she heard a familiar knock on the trapdoor.

Marinette smiled and climbed up onto her bed to undo the latch. She never got tired of his visits.

After she opened the door, he dropped down onto her bed, a huge grin on his face.

“Hey, Princess,” he greeted her. Her heart stopped for a moment.

“Princess?” she repeated. “Where did that come from?”

He shrugged. “It just seems fitting for you, I guess. Why? Do you not want me to call you that?”

She smiled. “No, I’m okay with it.”

He smiled. “Awesome.”

They spent the next hour pigging out on cake and playing Smash Ultimate. Marinette laughed when she saw him lick chocolate off of his clawed finger.

“What happened to your diet?” she asked.

He shrugged. “My father can’t control everything I do.”

She nodded approvingly and turned back to the game.

Marinette still dominated, of course, but Chat seemed to have gotten a lot better. He won a few rounds and nearly beat her in a few more.

After he won his third round that night, he leapt out of his seat, whisper-screaming victoriously.

She laughed. “Wow. I’m impressed.”

He bowed dramatically. “Thank you, thank you.”

She watched him as he sat back down. “You seem like you’re doing really well.”

“Well, I’ve been practicing.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t mean in the game- I mean  _ you. _ You seem happy. Happier than usual.”

His face softened. “I am,” he said, his voice taking on a soft quality she rarely heard from him, even as Ladybug. “Thanks to you.”

She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged, a fond look in his eyes. “You… inspired me.”

“To do what?”

“To make the changes I needed to make in my life,” he said, clearly being careful not to reveal too much. “I’ve kind of been struggling lately, but you gave me the courage to do what I needed to do to make myself happier. You helped me be free to be who I really am.”

She stared at him. “Wow. I- I didn’t really do that much.”

He moved closer to her and reached out to grab her hands. She felt her face heat up.

“Of  _ course _ you did,” he insisted. “If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I ever would’ve been able to do this for myself. Everything is different now- but a  _ good _ different. And I owe it all to you. You changed my life for the better, Marinette.”

She stared at him, and she was suddenly very aware of her heartbeat, her breathing, her sweaty palms- she was just glad he was wearing gloves and couldn’t feel how clammy her hands were.

“I don’t… I don’t know what to say,” she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.

He smiled softly at her. “Then don’t say anything.”

Slowly, he leaned in toward her. Her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest as her eyes fluttered closed.

And when he kissed her, it felt like magic.


	8. Baby's First Day of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien starts school and makes a surprising discovery.

Adrien gently brushed his fingertips across his lips. He still couldn’t believe he had kissed her- and she had kissed him  _ back. _ His heart fluttered at the memory of the previous night.

He smiled as he got dressed for the day. He was having an eventful week: two days ago, he defied his father for the first time ever and quit his job; yesterday, he had his first real kiss; and today, he was starting school for the first time ever.

He had managed to enroll himself without his father’s help. At seventeen years old, he had finally developed a man’s voice- or, at least, a deep enough voice for the woman he spoke to on the phone to believe he was his father, who, as a professional designer and the head of the biggest fashion label in the world, was  _ far  _ too busy to come to the school to enroll him like he was supposed to, and couldn’t she make an exception just this one time and let him do it over the phone?

And, starstruck by the person she  _ thought _ was the biggest fashion designer in the world, she  _ did _ make an exception.

Adrien grinned smugly at the memory. Clearly, he was more resourceful than his father knew.

Once he was ready for the day, he transformed into Chat Noir and snuck out the window. He didn’t detransform until he was far enough away from his house that he knew he wouldn’t be caught. He couldn’t go out the front door and risk being stopped by Nathalie or the Gorilla, or worse- his father.

His heart was racing with both excitement and nerves, and he practically ran to the school. When he turned the corner and saw it-  _ his school- _ he felt his breath hitch in his throat. This was it: the moment he had dreamed about his entire life was finally here. He was going to  _ school. _ Real school.

“Hey,  _ Adrikins _ ,” Chloé greeted him teasingly.

He smiled excitedly, feeling like a kid on Christmas. “Hey, Chlo.”

“You ready for your big day?”

He took a breath. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

She hooked her arm around his. “All right, let’s go inside and pretend to be in love, then.”

He paused. “Oh. Um. I have to tell you something.”

“Yeah?”

He felt a blush creep up on his face and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I, um… I kind of… kissed someone last night.”

Chloé’s jaw dropped open and she smacked his arm. “Adrien! Why didn’t you open with that?!”

“Sorry. I just-”

“Is it that girl you’ve been after forever? Does she finally like you back?”

He let out a small laugh. “No, actually. Different girl.”

Chloé raised her eyebrows. “Wow. I’m impressed. I didn’t think you knew that many girls.”

She laughed while Adrien rolled his eyes. “Well, I  _ was _ a model,” he reminded her. “I meet  _ lots _ of girls.”

“Yet you only just now got one to kiss you.”

“Last time I checked,  _ you’ve _ been kissing me for nearly two years.”

“ _ Much _ to my displeasure.”

“Ha, ha,” he sneered.

“So, is she your girlfriend now?”

Adrien paused. “Um. I’m not sure, actually. We didn’t really discuss the specific details.”

“You definitely should,” Chloé advised him. “Like, soon. You don’t want any misunderstandings between the two of you about what you are and where you’re going. You need to make sure you’re both on the same page.”

Adrien nodded. “Oh. Okay.” He checked his watch. “We should go inside. I don’t want to be late for my first day.”

Chloé glanced at the time on her phone. “You’re right. Come on- we have first period together.”

When they walked into the school, it was hard not to notice people staring at him as he passed. He didn’t pay them any mind, though; he was too excited to be here.

Chloé led him to his first class of the day, and when he entered, he walked directly to the teacher’s desk.

“Hello, are you Madame Bustier?” he asked the redheaded woman at the desk.

“Yes, I am,” she confirmed with a friendly smile. “Are you Adrien?”

“Yep,” he nodded happily.

“Welcome to my class. You can sit in the front, next to Nino.”

He turned around and spotted an empty seat next to a boy who was wearing headphones and tapping pencils on his desk rhythmically. Chloé sat just on the other side of the aisle.

He smiled and took a step toward his desk- then froze in his tracks when he glanced up and saw the girl sitting behind his seat.

Marinette.

She was here? She was in this class? How had he not known this before? Had Chloé ever mentioned a Marinette?

Suddenly, it dawned on him. The girl Chloé had been talking about for all these years, the one she used to have a crush on- her name wasn’t Mary. It was Marinette.

“Adrien? Is everything okay?”

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Mme Bustier’s voice, and he shook his head. “Yes, sorry. I’m just… excited to be here.”

He walked to his seat, his eyes glued to Marinette, his heart pounding. She was scribbling something in a notebook and hadn’t noticed his presence yet.

He set his bag down on the floor under the desk and sat down, still facing her.

“Um. Hi,” he said awkwardly.

She looked up at him, and he saw her expression go from confusion to recognition, then back to confusion.

“Hi,” she said slowly. “You’re… Adrien Agreste.”

He nodded silently, unsure of what to say. How could he say  _ anything? _ She’s his best friend, next to Chloé. He kissed her last night. She kissed him back. And she doesn’t even know it was him.

“Um. Well, I’m Marinette. Hi.”

“Hi,” he said again.

“Hey, dude,” the boy next to him, Nino, said.

He turned to face him and saw that he was holding out his hand, so he shook it.

“I’m Nino. Hey, I’ve seen you somewhere before. You’re that model dude, right?”

Adrien smiled. “Yeah. I’m Adrien.”

“Nice to meet you, Adrien.”

“You, too.”

“Okay, class,” Mme Bustier said, and the buzzing room fell silent. “We have a new addition to our class today, so everyone say ‘hi’ to Adrien!”

Adrien gave a tiny, sheepish wave to his new classmates and heard someone gasp.

“Adrien  _ Agreste?” _ a petite blonde girl exclaimed from somewhere behind him.

“That’s me,” Adrien nodded, turning to look at her.

“What are you doing in our class?” she asked.

“He’s here to be with Chloé, of course,” a redheaded girl sitting next to Chloé piped up. Adrien recognized her from photos as Chloé’s best friend, Sabrina, but he had never met her. “He is her boyfriend, after all.”

He saw Marinette roll her eyes.

“Okay, class, let’s focus on our work now. You can all get to know Adrien later.”

The class certainly took that message to heart. When class let out for lunch, Adrien was immediately surrounded by people saying his name as if they knew him, asking him questions- he was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic before Nino grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him out of the crowd.

“Guys, leave him alone,” he scolded them. “Can’t you see he’s overwhelmed?”

“Thanks,” Adrien breathed.

“Anytime. You wanna get lunch with me?”

“Sure- but does it have to be in the cafeteria?”

“Not at all. I know this cool café a couple of streets over- you wanna head over there?”

“Definitely.”

On their way out the door, he spotted Marinette also leaving the school with her friend, who he assumed must be Alya.

“H- hey, Marinette,” he called out to her. When she turned to look at him, he waved.

A puzzled expression came over her face. “Yeah?”

“Just, um. Just saying hi.”

She offered a confused smile and small wave. “Hi.”

She and Alya walked away, and Adrien immediately started screaming internally about how stupid he was.

“Don’t mind her,” Nino said. “She’s just weird around celebrities; you should’ve seen her the time she met Jagged Stone.” He laughed at the memory. “She’ll come around to you eventually- she’s super sweet.”

Adrien put his hands in his pockets while they walked, Nino leading the way. “So, you know her well?”

“Pretty well,” he nodded. “I’m dating Alya- that’s that girl she’s with right now.”

“So, you don’t want to have lunch with your girlfriend?”

“Nah, dude,” Nino shook his head. “Mondays are for the girls only. The last time I tried to get me to have lunch with them on a Monday… well, I still have nightmares. I’ll have lunch with them tomorrow. You can join us if you want.” He looked up at him. “Don’t you want to have lunch with  _ your _ girlfriend?”

Adrien’s eyes went wide. Somehow, in all the confusion with Marinette and the crowd of people trying to suffocate him, he had forgotten about Chloé.

“Um. She, uh- I think she wanted to eat in the cafeteria, and I don’t think I’m ready to try that yet,” he laughed and pulled out his phone. Sure enough, Chloé had sent him a barrage of texts.

**You wanna sit w me at lunch?**

**Hello ?**

**Where are you**

**Hello???**

**Answer your phone stupid**

**I’m hungry, I’m not gonna wait for you anymore if you don’t answer**

**Fine, eat by yourself, idc**

Also in his notifications bar: thirteen missed calls from Nathalie and a single ominous voicemail notification from his father. He chose to ignore them.

“So, anyway,” Adrien said, tucking his phone back into his pocket. “Tell me about our classmates.”

“Who do you want to know about?”

“Um....” Adrien looked down at his feet, trying to seem casual. “What about Marinette? She seems… cool.”

“Yeah, she is,” Nino agreed. “She’s awesome. “She’s kinda quiet sometimes, but she’s also, like, fierce. I’ve never seen anybody who stands up for their beliefs the way she does.”

Adrien hummed. “That’s… pretty cool.”

“Yeah. And she’s super into fashion and designing and stuff- she’s a huge fan of your dad.”

“Wow. That’s- um- surprising. She seemed… less than pleased to see me.”

Nino shrugged. “Well, you’re dating Chloé, and they don’t really get along too well.”

“Why not?”

“I dunno- they’ve just always been that way,” Nino said. “I mean, Chloé used to be pretty mean, but she’s a lot better now; Marinette’s the only person she ever really clashes with these days.” Nino pauses. “Although, now that I think about it, I don’t think they’ve actually gotten into it recently. Maybe they’re starting to get past their old rivalry.”

Adrien hummed. “That’s good.”

He thought back to Marinette rolling her eyes when Sabrina mentioned that he was Chloé’s boyfriend. Was it because she didn’t like Chloé? Or was it because she didn’t like  _ him? _

***

“How was your first day?” Chloé asked him that afternoon as she walked him home.

He grinned. “It was awesome. I loved it.”

Chloé laughed. “Good. Hey, where were you at lunch?”

“I went to a café with Nino,” he responded. “I wasn’t quite ready to brave the cafeteria yet.”

“Understandable.”

He paused for a moment. “So, that Marinette girl- that’s the one you talk about, right?”

“Yeah. What about her?”

“Nothing, I just- she seems cool. Why do you hate her so much?”

Chloé sighed. “Honestly? She was the first girl I ever had a crush on, and it freaked me out when I had to deal with that back in middle school. At the time, I didn’t want to be a lesbian, and it made me mad that I felt that way about her, so I took it out on her. I guess I just… still do. But I’ve been trying to be nicer to her lately.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah. About a month or so ago, we both got detention for… some stuff we said to each other in class, and while we were in there, we kind of agreed to a truce. We haven’t fought since.”

Adrien smiled. “Wow. That’s awesome. I’m proud of you.”

Chloé laughed. “Thanks. I only did it because of you, though.”

Adrien furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you were the one who told me to try to be nicer to her,” she explained. “And I didn’t- um. I didn’t want to let you down.”

Adrien grinned. “Aww, Chlo!”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, don’t get a big head about it.”


	9. Adrien Braves the Cafeteria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chat and Marinette make it official.

Marinette was alone in her bedroom, her mind filled with thoughts of Chat Noir.

She had been distracted all day. It wasn’t unusual for Alya to have to wake her from daydreams, but it wasn’t usually this often. She had hardly even noticed when an actual  _ celebrity _ walked into her classroom and said hi to her that morning, and then at lunch, Alya told her that she came off as somewhat rude and dismissive toward him. But she couldn’t help it; she couldn’t stop thinking about Chat and the kiss.

Her heart fluttered at the memory, her lips tingling where his lips were less than 24 hours ago.

What did it mean for them? They hadn’t really discussed it the previous night; after they kissed, they simply sat in silence for a long time and held hands. She had rested her head on his shoulder while his thumb gently stroked her hand. Then, when it got late, he kissed her forehead and left.

Was he going to ask her to be his girlfriend? From a moral standpoint, was it even okay for her to date him without telling him she was Ladybug?

She chewed on her bottom lip nervously.

She had been rejecting him for  _ years _ out of fear of messing up their partnership. It had  _ destroyed _ her to do that to him, especially since she felt the same way about him that he did about her.

But if she dated him as Marinette instead of as Ladybug, that shouldn’t mess up their partnership, right? She had been pretending she wasn’t in love with him for four years now, and she knew she could keep up the act. If he didn’t  _ know _ he was dating Ladybug, then surely their professional relationship could remain intact, right?

But at the same time, it meant lying to him. After all, this was a  _ huge _ secret to keep. Being friends with him as Marinette was one thing, but  _ dating him? _ How could she be in a relationship with him knowing that she was keeping something so important from him? Something she knew could change  _ everything? _

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock on her trapdoor. Her heart rate sped up, but she couldn’t tell if it was apprehension or excitement.

After she opened the trapdoor, he simply dropped through it like always, and for a moment, it almost felt as if nothing had ever happened between them.

Almost.

But, of course, it  _ did _ happen; and, of course, she was going to have to deal with it.

“Hey,” he breathed. “Um. I just wanted to-”

“I think we should talk,” she interrupted.

He nodded. “Yeah. We should.”

Marinette went downstairs and made a hot chocolate for each of them. When she came back up, they sat down in their chairs, sipping from their mugs, and talked.

“We need to… be on the same page here,” Chat started. “We need to talk about what we are now and… where this is going.”

Marinette nodded. “Right. Um. You first.”

Chat blinked. “Well.” He took a deep breath. “Marinette, I really like you, okay? And I… I want you to be my girlfriend, but I know it must be weird to date someone when you can’t date them in public, so I get it if you don’t want to-”

“Chat,” she interrupted, reaching out to touch his hand gently. “I  _ do _ want to be your girlfriend.”

His eyes lit up. “You do?”

She smiled. She could think about the potential consequences later; in that moment, all she knew was that she wanted to be with him.

“Yeah. I do.”

***

A week later, Marinette was sitting at her desk working on a design in her sketchbook before class when Adrien walked in.

“Hey, Marinette,” Adrien said. Marinette looked up from her sketchbook to see him waving at her.

“Hi,” she said hesitantly. She wasn’t sure why he kept trying to talk to her. He’d been here a week, and every day, he greeted her and tried to initiate small talk. He didn’t seem to have any malicious intent, but he  _ was _ dating Chloé, after all; who knew what he was capable of?

Although, on the other hand, Chloé had been a lot nicer ever since they agreed to that truce. She hadn’t tried anything in a while. Maybe her boyfriend was just trying to make new friends.

No, that couldn’t be it- why would a famous model be so fixated on getting to know  _ Marinette, _ of all people? He had to be up to something.

Later that day, Alya and Marinette were in the bathroom washing their hands when Alya gave her a weird smile.

“What?” Marinette asked her.

Alya shrugged. “I don’t know. Adrien just seems to like you. A lot.”

Marinette huffed. “I don’t know why he won’t leave me alone,” she grumbled.

“He’s just being nice, Mari,” Alya informed her. “He’s been homeschooled his whole life, and he probably doesn’t even  _ know _ anyone his age aside from Chloé. He’s just trying to make friends.”

Marinette shook her head. “I don’t know why he’s so fixated on  _ me, _ though. He hardly talks to anyone else other than Chloé and Nino- why me?”

Alya smirked. “Sounds like Chloé has some competition.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “As if. I would  _ never _ go out with Adrien Agreste.”

***

Marinette and Alya had just sat down for lunch in the cafeteria when Nino approached the table.

“Hey, dudettes,” Nino greeted them. “Can Adrien sit with us today?”

Marinette glanced over to see the blond boy walking toward them and smiling at her. “Um. Sure.”

Nino sat down across the table from Alya, and when Adrien arrived, he sat across from Marinette.

“Hi, Marinette,” he smiled.

“Hi.”

It wasn’t long before Chloé and Sabrina showed up.

“Um. Do you, uh, mind if we sit here?” Chloé asked, clearly uncomfortable. They were civil to each other now, but that didn’t make them friends.

“Go ahead,” Marinette said. Chloé took the seat next to Adrien, and Sabrina went around the table to sit next to Marinette and across from Chloé.

“So, did you guys hear about the new store that just opened at the mall?” Alya asked.

“Yeah, it sounds cool,” Marinette chimed in. “We should go check it out sometime soon.”

“How about Saturday?” Alya suggested, looking around the table at the others. “We could all go hang out, shop, eat lunch in the food court- make a day out of it.”

“Sounds good,” Marinette agreed.

“Coolio,” Nino nodded.

“I’m in,” Adrien agreed.

“There’s no way your dad will let you,” Chloé said to him.

Adrien shrugged. “I’ve decided not to let him tell me what to do anymore.”

Chloé raised her eyebrows, impressed. “Well, then, do you guys mind if I come?”

Marinette and Alya exchange a glance.

“That’s- um- fine by me,” Marinette said. In all honesty, it  _ wasn’t _ fine by her, but she was trying to be civil here.

Chloé nodded. “Cool,” she grinned at her boyfriend. “ _ Someone’s  _ gotta protect Adrien at his first non-chaperoned trip to the mall.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Your  _ first _ non-chaperoned mall day?” Alya repeated.

The blond boy nodded. “Yeah. My father’s kept me on a pretty tight leash for the past seventeen years- but not anymore.”

They were all silent for a few moments until Alya spoke.

“So…” she says slowly, clearly calculating her next move. “I saw the video, obviously, before it got taken down. And I was just wondering… how did your father react?”

“Well, he was furious, of course,” Adrien explained. “His assistant locked me out of all my social media accounts and took the video down. He yelled at me  _ forever _ about how disrespectful I had been, and I finally got fed up with it and just quit.”

Nino furrowed his brow. “Quit what?”

“Modeling,” Adrien said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Marinette raised her eyebrows in surprise. Beside her, Alya’s jaw dropped.

_ “You quit modeling?” _ Alya hissed, leaning toward him over the table with wide eyes.

He nodded. “Honestly, I’ve never really enjoyed it, and I  _ especially _ didn’t enjoy my father controlling every part of my life, so I just… quit.”

“I can’t believe Gabriel hasn’t put out a statement yet,” Marinette remarked.

Adrien shrugged. “He’s still trying to force me to come back. He probably won’t say anything to the press until he has to- y’know, to try to save face. As for me, though, I don’t care who knows.”

“What inspired that, though?” Alya asked. “I mean, all these years- what finally made you snap?”

“Well, I’ve been fed up with it for a while, but someone I know recently inspired me to actually do something about it.”

“Who?”

He smiled softly to himself. “A friend.”


	10. Remus Lupin is Gay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien learns to rebel a little.

"Look, all I'm saying is that there's literally no way Remus Lupin  _ isn't _ gay," Marinette insisted. "Did you even  _ read _ the books? That is not a straight man!"

"I  _ never _ said he was straight," Chat said defensively. "I'm not  _ that _ delusional. I'm just saying he's bi or pan or something, not 100% gay."

"Literally  _ what _ would make you think that?"

"He married a woman!"

Marinette scoffed. "Please. That was compulsory heterosexuality if I ever saw it. Are you honestly just going to take J.K. Rowling's word that that was real?"

"Well, she is the author of the books, so-"

"No," Marinette interrupted. "She lost her authority when she claimed Dumbledore was gay and thought that was actual representation."

"She…  _ lost _ her  _ authority _ ?"

Marinette nodded. "I don't believe a word she says anymore. I have her muted on Twitter. Plus, she's a TERF, so she's definitely not an ally- she can't be trusted."

Chat wrinkled his nose. "Ew. I didn't know she was a TERF."

“Exactly. Now do you understand my point?”

Chat sighed. “You win this one.”

Marinette laughed triumphantly. “As per usual.”

He smiled fondly and, suddenly feeling the uncontrollable urge to hold her, leaned over and wrapped her up in his arms.

Marinette smiled. They were sitting on her bedroom floor on a Friday night, love in their hearts and cookies in their bellies.

“Tell me about your life,” Chat murmured. “What’s been going on with you?”

Marinette hummed, leaning into him. “Well, I haven’t really had anything exciting happen to me- other than when you’re here, of course. I’m going to the mall with some friends tomorrow, so that should be fun.”

Chat felt his heart rate speed up just a tiny bit. “Sounds fun. Um. Who all is going?”

“Me, Alya, Nino, Adrien-”

“Adrien?” he repeated. “You mean Adrien Agreste?”

“Yeah, she nodded. “He joined our class recently- I told you that already, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did. So, how’s that going? What’s he like? He must be cool, right?”

She shrugged. “I guess. He seems nice enough, but he’s kinda dorky sometimes, and he seems, like, weirdly interested in me.”

“Well… maybe he wants to be friends with you. He’s probably just… shy. You should try to get to know him better.”

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “See, he’s dating this girl named Chloé, who’s kind of been my enemy for the past few years. She’s definitely nicer now than she used to be, but he started dating her back when she was still horrible, so that kind of seems like a red flag to me.”

“But if she’s better now, doesn’t that mean he’s been a good influence to her?” Chat suggested. “Look, I saw that video he put up. It seems like he’s probably had a kind of tough life. Maybe you should give him a chance and try to get to know him better.”

Marinette paused. “Maybe.”

Chat chewed on his bottom lip. She didn’t understand why it was so important to him that she gave Adrien a shot. But how could she? She didn’t even know that it was her  _ boyfriend _ she was talking about.

_ Maybe I should tell her, _ he thought, his pulse speeding up again at the thought.

Maybe the best way for her to get to know and trust Adrien was for her to realize that she  _ already did _ know and trust Adrien. Plus, wasn’t it immoral for him to keep a secret like this to himself, especially now that they were dating?

On the other hand, if she found out Chat had been Adrien the whole time, she might feel betrayed or lied to. She might not feel like she could trust him anymore.

If she knew who he was, he was sure she wouldn’t want to date him anymore- which was both the reason he didn’t want to tell her and the reason he probably  _ should _ tell her.

He wouldn’t do it tonight. But maybe… Maybe soon.

First, though: he would try to get her to like Adrien. At  _ least _ as a friend. He wanted her to like and trust him-  _ both _ sides of him- and feel comfortable being with him. He definitely didn’t want to hurt her.

So, he decided to wait on the identity reveal. At least until she came around to Adrien a little bit.

***

On Saturday morning, Adrien woke up with a smile on his face.

Today was going to be the first time he had been to the mall without being accompanied by a security team. It was also his first outing with friends (plural), and he couldn’t be happier.  _ Especially _ since Marinette was going to be there. It might even give him a chance to get her to warm up to him.

Too excited to feel tired, he jumped out of bed and immediately started getting ready for the day he had ahead of him.

He hadn’t told his father or Nathalie about his plans yet; he didn’t want them trying to stop him.

Once he was ready, he walked out of his room and peered over the railing of the stairs. The entrance hall was empty- that was good. He wasn’t necessarily trying to  _ sneak _ out; he just didn’t want any interference or arguments.

He tiptoed down the stairs and walked quickly and quietly toward the door. He had just touched the handle when-

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

Adrien huffed, rolled his eyes, and turned around to see his father standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest.

“The mall,” Adrien said shortly. “With my friends.”

Gabriel shook his head. “No you’re not. Not without security going with you. Besides, you’re not going  _ anywhere  _ until you agree to stop going to that school and come back to work.”

Adrien scoffed. “Please. Face it, Father: you can’t control me anymore. I’m going, whether you like it or not.”

He turned back toward the door and opened it.

“Adrien,” his father said with a warning tone. “If you step out that door-”

“What are you gonna do?” Adrien challenged him, turning back around. “Fire me?”

Gabriel’s eyes hardened. “I’ll kick you out of this house. If you want to leave so bad, then you can stay gone.”

Adrien laughed. “Please. You won’t kick me out.” His mouth settled into a smirk. “It would look bad for the brand.”

And with that, he turned around and triumphantly walked out the door.


	11. Mall Rats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien makes a big mistake.
> 
> (And yes, I named this chapter after that one episode of Stranger Things.)

As was usual for Saturdays, the mall was packed with people. It took them ten minutes to find a table that could seat all of them when they went to the food court for lunch, but finally, they were seated. Marinette was squeezed in between Alya and Adrien, with Sabrina sitting across from her.

As she ate her food, she was only halfway paying attention to the conversation at the table. She had been distracted by thoughts of Chat Noir, accompanied by the pressing question of whether or not she should tell him she was Ladybug.

Ever since that night when he had saved her life and they first became friends- and especially since the night he kissed her- she had been trying to ignore the guilt she felt about keeping the secret. She tried to justify it by telling herself that, if he knew her identity, they probably wouldn’t be together, and that would be a lose-lose situation. That helped keep the guilt at bay, but she couldn’t stop it from creeping in around the edges every now and then. Wasn’t it immoral to keep a secret like this from him? Surely if she knew his civilian self, he would tell her, right? Doesn’t that mean she should do the same?

She suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when the whole table erupted into laughter at something Adrien had said. Marinette laughed along, but she honestly didn’t know what they were talking about.

She glanced over at Adrien, who was animatedly telling a story about something with big hand gestures. She couldn’t help but remember Chat’s words:  _ “Maybe you should give him a chance and try to get to know him better.” _

Well, if she was going to keep a huge, relationship-destroying secret from him, she should at least try not to disappoint him.

“And I fell off the runway, right on top of a  _ judge,” _ Adrien finished his story. Nino was howling with laughter, and Alya had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. “My father was furious, but honestly? It was worth it for all that shrimp.”

What on Earth had she just missed? Whatever it was, it must’ve been good; she was the only one at the table who wasn’t doubled over with laughter.

Maybe Chat was right. Clearly, Adrien was funny, even if she hadn’t experienced it yet. Nino and Alya seemed to like him a lot. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

“Excuse me,” an unfamiliar voice said. Marinette turned to see a girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen, standing next to the table and smiling nervously at Adrien. Her father was behind her, looking excited with a cellphone gripped tightly in his fist. “Could I please get a picture with you?”

“Of course,” Adrien grinned and stood up. “What’s your name?”

“Alice,” she giggled, her cheeks turning red.

“Nice to meet you, Alice. I’m Adrien.”

He shook her hand and then posed for the picture with one arm around the girl’s shoulders and the other hand holding up a thumbs up.

“Thank you so much,” the girl beamed.

“Anytime,” he smiled at her as she skipped away, squealing to her father.

“Wow,” Alya remarked. “Y’know, sometimes I forget you’re a celebrity.”

Adrien laughed. “Sometimes I forget, too.”

“Anyways, are you guys done eating?” Chloé asked. “I have shopping to do.”

Marinette had never had more fun shopping in her entire life. They hit what seemed like every store in the mall, and within an hour, she felt as if she had tried on a thousand outfits she never had any intention of buying. They probably took hundreds of selfies, including several mirror selfies featuring herself, Alya, Chloé, and Sabrina in extravagant outfits Marinette could never afford. However, her favorite picture of the day was one that Adrien took in which the whole group threw up peace signs and made stupid faces.

Their perfect day couldn’t last forever, though; apparently, the girl from the food court had posted her picture with Adrien online, and apparently, the paparazzi wanted to talk to him.

“There he is!” a man’s voice called out. The group turned to see maybe a dozen reporters rushing toward them with cameras. Marinette’s jaw fell open.

“Can you address the rumors that you’ve quit modeling?” one reporter asked urgently, shoving a microphone into the blond’s face.

“Adrien,” another said, shoving his way to the front of the group. “Are you calling for a boycott of your father’s brand?”

“Is your father abusing you?” another called out.

The camera flashes were blindingly bright, and more and more members of the press kept filing in and surrounding them, and there were so many people yelling and talking and trying to get Adrien’s attention- Marinette felt dizzy, and she wasn’t even the focus of the frenzy.

After a moment that felt like hours, Chloé pushed her way between Adrien and the reporters.

“Leave him alone, you  _ vultures,” _ she reprimanded them in a loud, shrill voice. She grabbed Adrien by the shoulders and dragged him into the nearest store. The rest of the group followed suit, trying to block the paparazzi from reaching their friend. Thankfully, a store employee quickly shut the doors, locking them out.

The group heaved a sigh of relief.

“Are you kids okay?” the woman asked. Her name tag read, “Sheila- Manager.”

“Yes, thank you,” Adrien smiled gratefully and shook her hand.

“Well, you’re welcome to stay in here until they leave you alone,” she suggested. “We don’t have a back door out of here, but you can come hide in the back, if you like.”

“Thank you so much,” Chloé said, following the woman to the back of the store.

The shop was a maze of sale racks, which helped them stay hidden from the cameras. In the back corner of the room was a small lounge area with a couch and a few cushioned chairs. They all took their seats and settled in for the wait.

Thankfully, they were fairly talented at keeping themselves entertained. Their conversation changed too fast for Marinette to keep up with it, they played games, and they told stories. However, an hour later, the paparazzi were still waiting outside the glass doors.

Marinette huffed, starting to feel cabin fever begin to take effect, and stood up from her seat to wander away from the lounge area. A minute later, while she was behind a rack of clothes that concealed her from her friends’ view, Adrien came up beside her.

“Hey,” he greeted her, his eyes concerned. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Fine. Just… kinda wanna get out of here, y’know?”

He tucked his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. I wish they would just leave us alone.”

Marinette sighed. “Yeah. I mean-”

She stopped when Adrien took a step toward her and reached for her face.

“You- um- have an eyelash,” he mumbled, gesturing vaguely at her cheek. “Do you mind if I…?”

“Go ahead,” she responded, her throat suddenly dry.

His hand came up to brush the eyelash off of her cheek, his thumb gentle against her skin. She looked up at him, and when their eyes met, they both froze for a moment, as if time had stopped completely. He didn’t remove his hand from her face.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and Marinette snapped out of her trance to see a reporter shoving a camera in her face. Several other paparazzi were running toward them, having gotten inside somehow.

Adrien cursed and grabbed her hand. “Come on.”

Dragging her behind him, he ran into the dressing rooms a few feet away and pulled her into a stall, locking the door behind him.

“Sorry about that,” he murmured. The changing room wasn’t exactly spacious, and they were just inches away from each other, but at least the paparazzi hadn’t followed them in here. “This is all my fault.”

She pressed her lips together. “This… must be hard to deal with all the time,” she said slowly, her voice soft.

He shrugged. “I mean, I’m used to it by now.”

“Still.”

They sat in silence for a long moment before Marinette spoke.

“Y’know, I’m really into fashion designing,” she began. “And your father has always been a huge inspiration to me- his designs are actually one of the main things that got me interested in fashion in the first place- but when I saw that video you posted and heard about the way he treats you, I just… well, let’s just say I don’t look up to him the way that I used to.”

Adrien sighed. “It really wasn’t my intention to deter anyone from the brand. I didn’t want my father to lose business because of me; I just didn’t want to keep living the life of someone who’s not  _ me, _ y’know?”

She nodded. “I get it. It’s hard to feel like you can’t be yourself, but I can’t even imagine having to do it constantly for  _ years.” _

He looked up at her, and when their eyes met, it happened again. It was like time stopped. She was suddenly very aware of her breathing, her blinking, her pulse.

And he started to lean in toward her.

Before he could get too close, though, her eyes went wide and she jumped back.

“Woah,” she said, holding her hands out. “Were you just about to  _ kiss  _ me?”

Adrien cringed and put his face in his hands. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Look, I have a boyfriend.” Her jaw dropped when she remembered Chloé. “And  _ you _ have a  _ girlfriend _ who’s  _ right in the next room!” _

He sighed. “Look, Mari-”

She shook her head. “Just leave me alone.”

_ Looks like I was right about him after all, _ she thought as she stormed out of the dressing room, a scowl on her face.  _ If Adrien was willing to cheat on his girlfriend with a girl he barely knows, he’s even worse than I thought. _


	12. Trouble in Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: TRANSPHOBIA/MISGENDERING (It's pretty brief but I'll provide a summary at the end if you don't want to read it, thank you again I love you)
> 
> In which Marinette hates her boyfriend a lot.

He couldn’t believe he tried to kiss her as Adrien. Honestly, how could he have been so  _ stupid? _

He went to her house the night it happened, and she ranted about it for a full hour, not realizing the boy sitting in front of her was also the boy she was ranting about. It was agonizing to sit and listen to it. He itched to jump up and yell, “it was me! I’m not actually dating Chloé!” However, he still had  _ some _ semblance of self-control, and he didn’t want to reveal his secret identity while she was mad at him. Plus, he didn’t want to risk outing Chloé.

So, he gritted his teeth, planted his butt in a chair, and listened to his girlfriend rant about how much she hated him.

“I mean, seriously  _ what _ was going through his  _ head?” _ she cried. “Did he just  _ forget _ that he has a girlfriend? How does someone forget about that?!”

_ It’s pretty easy to forget when she’s a fake girlfriend, _ Chat thought.

“Seriously.  _ Just _ when I was starting to think that  _ maybe _ he wasn’t so bad, he just  _ had _ to ruin it by trying to  _ kiss me!” _ She crossed her arms and called Adrien a name he would never want to repeat.

“And look at this,” she continued, holding out her phone for him to see. His eyebrows shot up when he saw a photo of the two of them, his hand cupping her face as they gazed into each other’s eyes. It was the photo from when he had brushed the eyelash off her cheek and a reporter had popped up out of nowhere. Out of context, it certainly looked like a “moment.”

“This is all over the internet,” she lamented. “People think we’re, like, a  _ thing. _ ” She huffed. “I hate him so much.”

“He had a lapse in judgement-” Chat started, but he stopped instantly when Marinette turned her deadly gaze his way.

“A  _ lapse _ in  _ judgement?” _ She let out an abrupt laugh, but it was completely void of joy.  _ “Cheating on your girlfriend _ is  _ not _ just a lapse in judgement, Chat, and as  _ your _ girlfriend, I’m more than a tad concerned that you see it that way.”

Chat shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean- I just meant, have you tried talking to him or Chloé about it? Maybe it’s not what you think.”

She furrowed her brow. “What else could it  _ possibly _ be?”

“I don’t know,” Chat said. “But I still think maybe you should give him another chance.”

She shook her head. “I’m  _ done _ giving Adrien Agreste chances. He’s dead to me.”

***

Adrien was, unfortunately, still very alive, and very aware of Marinette’s attitude toward him.

It had nearly been a week since the incident at the mall, and she was still icing him out. Everyone could tell she was mad at him. It wasn’t hard to figure out, given the venomous glares she gave him every time he tried to speak to her. But, from what he could tell, she hadn’t told anyone  _ why _ she was mad at him. Of course, they had all seen the photo of them that was circulating online, but he explained to them that he was simply brushing an eyelash off of her cheek. The paparazzi had just happened to catch a moment that looked fairly incriminating out of context. For that, at least, he was thankful. Maybe the first friends he had ever made on his own might not start to hate him just yet. Other than his girlfriend, of course.

He wished he could talk to Chloé about this. Ever since they were kids, she had  _ always _ been the person he went to for help when he had a problem. He didn’t know who else would help him, especially with something like this. But he had already told Chloé that he was seeing someone in secret. Explaining why he tried to kiss Marinette would mean explaining that  _ she _ was his mysterious girlfriend, and explaining why she didn’t  _ know _ that she was his mysterious girlfriend and that his relationship with Chloé was fake would mean explaining that he was Chat Noir.

He wished he could talk to Nino, too, but Nino was still under the impression that he and Chloé were actually dating. Explaining why he tried to kiss Marinette without sounding like a terrible person would mean explaining that his relationship with Chloé was fake, and he was worried about giving away too much information and outing her.

He sighed, putting a textbook away in his locker before lunch.

He definitely didn’t want his girlfriend to hate him, even if she didn’t know it was him. He wanted to be able to tell her who he was at  _ some point, _ but if she hated Adrien for the rest of her life, he might not get that chance.

But what could he do to convince her to give him another shot? How could he get her to believe that what he did wasn’t so bad? The only thing he could think of was to tell the truth, which certainly wasn’t an option.

He shut his locker door and began the walk to the cafeteria.

Maybe if he  _ did _ tell her he was Chat Noir, he’d be able to get her to understand. She would definitely be mad at first, considering the fact that she hates him and he had been keeping a huge secret from her, but maybe he could get her to see his side of things.  _ Maybe _ she wouldn’t break up with him.

He shook his head. He couldn’t take that risk.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a loud voice shouting a slur down the hall.

His gaze snapped up, his brow furrowed, and he marched in the direction of the sound.

He found the perpetrator standing next to the bathrooms. He recognized him as Travis, a bully in their year who towered over nearly everyone. Currently, he was towering over a smaller boy, Charles, who was wearing an oversized hoodie and clutching his backpack tightly.

“Use the right bathroom next time,” Travis jeered the slur again, and Adrien cringed, realizing what was happening.

“I- I was trying-” Charles stammered.

“No,” Travis interrupted.  _ “You _ use the  _ girls’ _ restroom. You don’t belong in the men’s room with us.”

“Hey,” Adrien interjected, stepping toward Travis. “Leave him alone.”

Travis laughed. “I think you mean  _ her.” _

“No,” Adrien’s gaze hardened. “I mean  _ him.” _

Travis glared at him. “Get out of here, Agreste. Mind your own business.”

“No,” Adrien repeated. “I said, leave him alone.”

Travis sneered. “What are  _ you _ gonna do about it, shrimp?”

Adrien balled his hands into fists, adrenaline pumping through his body as he took a step closer to the much larger boy. “I’m gonna-”

“Boys,” a teacher interrupted, her voice stern. “Principal’s office. Now.”

***

“Hey,” Alya greeted him when he finally got to the classroom with a few minutes to spare before their next class. Marinette rolled her eyes at the sight of him. “Where were you during lunch?”

“Principal’s office,” he said shortly.

Nino dropped his pencil, Alya’s jaw dropped, and even Marinette looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

“What for?” Alya asked, leaning forward in her seat.

Adrien huffed. “I was on my way to lunch when I saw Travis trying to keep Charles from using the right restroom.”

Marinette’s jaw fell open. “Seriously?”

He looked at her. It was the first time she had spoken to his civilian self since the mall. Her mouth snapped shut.

“Yeah,” he said. “I was trying to stop him, and we kind of started to get into it. A teacher sent us to the office.”

“And what did the principal say?” Nino asked.

Adrien rolled his eyes. “That’s the really awful part: he said Charles had to use the girls’ restroom. Apparently, it’s ‘school policy,’” Adrien said, doing air quotes around the words.

“Are you kidding me?” Alya asked incredulously. Next to her, Marinette cursed under her breath.

Adrien nodded. “I know. It’s ridiculous.”

“We should have a protest,” Marinette said immediately, turning to Alya with a fire in her eyes Adrien had never seen before.

“Please,” Chloé groaned as she entered. “No more protests over cafeteria food.”

“This one  _ isn’t _ over cafeteria food,” Marinette informed her. “It’s over the school forcing Charles to use the girls’ restroom.”

Chloé paused. “Okay. Carry on, then.”

Alya nodded. “Okay, we need to start planning ASAP.” She looked to Adrien and Nino. “Are you guys gonna join us?”

“Of course,” Nino said.

Adrien glanced at Marinette. Her eyes were still blazing, but he knew her anger wasn’t directed entirely at him in that moment.

He looked back at Alya and nodded. “I’m in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary:
> 
> Marinette rants to Chat about how much she hates Adrien. Chat tries to convince her to give him another chance, but she says that Adrien is dead to her. A week later, Adrien is at school when he hears a bully calling a trans student a slur and preventing him from using the correct restroom. Adrien tries to stand up for the trans student, but he and the bully are sent to the principal's office. The principal explains that school policy says trans students can't use the correct restroom, and Adrien then explains this to the gang. Alya and Marinette decide to hold a protest.


	13. Adrien Throws Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien is very protective of Marinette.

A week after Adrien told them about the issue with the school’s restroom policy, they were in the cafeteria during lunch, setting up for their protest. They had gotten several more of their classmates to join, and Marinette had made t-shirts for all of them that read, “TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.”

Marinette was stationed at a table handing out signs to participants with Adrien helping her. She warily glanced over at him as he eagerly gave out signs, an encouraging smile on his face.

She still didn’t quite trust him after he tried to kiss her, but she had to admit, he was doing a good thing. He had started all of this by trying to stand up for Charles in the first place, and he had played a huge hand in organizing this protest.

However, that didn’t change the fact that he had tried to cheat on his girlfriend with her. Plus, the photos of them at the mall were still plastered all over the internet, and she was sick of it. She couldn’t scroll through Twitter for five minutes without seeing that stupid picture of him getting that eyelash off her cheek. People were speculating that he was cheating on Chloé with her, calling her “the other woman” and “Adrien’s mysterious new girl.” It was sickening.

Suddenly, Alya ran into the cafeteria, waving her arms around in the air. “Damocles is coming!” She exclaimed. “Get in position!”

The protestors all climbed up onto the tables, ignoring the objections from their seated classmates.

They held up their signs when Damocles entered, and Alya began to chant into a bullhorn, the rest of the group following suit.

“Trans rights are human rights!” Alya chanted. When the other protestors fell into rhythm, she stopped chanting and started her speech, the bullhorn projecting her voice over the chanting. “Preventing trans kids from using the right restroom is  _ incredibly _ harmful. It outs the trans student and puts them in danger of being assaulted in school, but it also pushes a hateful agenda used to oppress a marginalized group. Is that really the lesson you want to teach your students, M. Damocles? That people who are different from us shouldn’t be afforded the same liberties and rights as us? Because that is  _ not _ the lesson we deserve to be taught.”

Marinette smiled proudly at her best friend, holding her sign high in the air as she chanted. She noticed several people holding up their phones to take videos.

“Trans kids deserve to be protected,” Alya said; that was their cue. The protestors on the tables began to walk forward. As they reached the ends of the tables, they hopped down to form a crowd around M. Damocles one by one. “If you’re not going to do it, who will? If they can’t even feel protected at school, where will they ever be able to feel safe?”

Marinette was nearly at the end of the table where she would jump down, but she didn’t get the chance. Before she reached the end, a bulky boy she knew to be Travis reached out and grabbed her by the ankle, tripping her. With a yelp, she fell flat on her face and landed on the table with her body covered in various students’ lunches.

“Marinette!” a voice exclaimed.

Several people gasped and even laughed as she sat up, pulling mashed potatoes out of her hair. Travis’s bellowing laughter echoed throughout the cafeteria.

Nearby, she heard a familiar voice curse at Travis. She turned just in time to see Adrien punch Travis in the face. Her jaw dropped.

Travis stumbled backwards in surprise and touched his fingertips to his cheekbone. In a shocking turn of events, Adrien had managed to break the skin with a single punch. Marinette certainly had not expected him to be so strong.

Travis quickly returned the punch, but Adrien easily ducked underneath his fist and landed another punch to his gut. Then, when Travis doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach, Adrien sent yet another fist straight into Travis’s nose.

By this point, nearly the whole cafeteria was gathered around them, several people cheering Adrien on. Marinette saw Alya and Nino watching with shocked expressions.

“Boys,” M. Damocles yelled over the din, moving to pull them apart, but Travis reared his fist back to swing at Adrien and accidentally elbowed the principal in the nose, knocking him backwards.

“Stop it,” Marinette shouted, climbing off the table. “Stop!”

They didn’t seem to hear her and kept fighting.

Marinette ran toward them and grabbed Adrien by the shoulders, yanking him away just as he was about to throw another punch. “Stop it, both of you!”

“Marinette, move,” Adrien demanded, breathing heavily and moving forward to go after Travis again.

“No,” she said, stepping directly in front of him and placing her hands on his shoulders to block him from moving forward. “You have to stop.”

He looked down at her, and his eyes caught on something on her cheek.

“He hurt you,” he said in a low voice.

Marinette brought her hand up to touch a stinging spot on her cheek. When she pulled her hand away, there was a tiny bit of blood on her fingers.

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “It’s just a scrape. I’m fine.”

Before Adrien could say anything else, a large male teacher grabbed him roughly by the elbow.

“Principal’s office,” the teacher commanded.  _ “Now.” _

The teacher dragged off toward the principal’s office while another teacher followed with Travis. Marinette watched them go silently, her mouth open in shock.

After a minute, Alya and Nino walked up to her.

“Dude,” Nino said. “That was…  _ crazy. _ Who knew he had it in him?”

“Not me,” Marinette agreed.

“Let’s go get you cleaned up,” Alya said, taking Marinette’s hand and pulling her toward the restroom.

Marinette washed her face in the sink while Alya picked bits of food out of her hair.

“Hey, remember when I said Adrien likes you so much that Chloé might have some competition?” Alya asked.

Marinette’s stomach lurched, and she looked up at her friend. “Yeah. What about it?”

Alya hummed. “Well, I said it as a joke before, but now, I’m kind of thinking he might  _ actually _ like you.”

Marinette looked at her face in the mirror. There was a small cut on her cheek, and her face was pink- she would definitely have some bruises tomorrow.

She thought about Alya’s words. About Adrien beating up a guy twice his size just because he tripped her. About Adrien trying to kiss her that day in the mall. About Adrien’s voice, low and rough, when he saw the cut on her cheek.

She shook her head. “No way. He has a girlfriend. He doesn’t like me that way.”

But even as she said it, she knew it was a lie.


	14. Chloé Knows All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Nathalie gives Adrien a warning.

“Fighting, Adrien? Really?” Nathalie said in a stern voice, her arms crossed.

Adrien looked down at his battered knuckles as he sat on his bed with his legs crossed. “He started it.”

Nathalie sat down on the bed next to him. “What has gotten into you lately? Quitting your job, defying your father, enrolling yourself in school, getting in fights, getting  _ suspended for a week? _ That’s not like you.”

Adrien huffed and stood up. “Maybe it  _ is _ like me,” he said. “You don’t know. Heck,  _ I _ don’t even know.”

Nathalie furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

Adrien started pacing back and forth across the room. “It’s just that… I’ve never been  _ allowed _ to be myself, y’know? I’ve always been… this  _ character _ that my father created. Never  _ me. _ ”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is,” he insisted. “He’s always controlled everything I’ve  _ ever _ done or said. My whole  _ life _ was scripted until I posted that video on Instagram. I wasn’t  _ me _ for seventeen years. I don’t even know who I am- but now that I’ve taken back control of my own life, I finally get to find out.”

“And is  _ fighting _ a part of who you are now?” Nathalie asked.

“Maybe,” Adrien said, throwing his hands in the air out of frustration. “I don’t know. Maybe it is. Or maybe it was a one-time thing- a reaction to seeing my friend get hurt. I don’t know.”

Nathalie pursed her lips. “Your father is angry with you.”

“I know.”

“He hasn’t decided what he’s going to do yet.”

Adrien shook his head. “There isn’t anything he can do. I’m telling you, he can’t control me anymore.”

Nathalie sighed. “Adrien, I care about you, okay? I want you to be happy, and I want you to find yourself. But I need you to know that your father  _ will _ find something to do. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but your father is… a persistent man. And he’s very talented at holding grudges. You may think you’re in the clear now, but he’ll find a way to punish you if you don’t clean up your act.”

Adrien stared at her for a moment, trying to imagine what his father could possibly do.

Before either of them spoke again, they heard a buzz, indicating that someone was outside at the front gates waiting to be let in. Nathalie stood from the bed and began to walk out of the room.

“Who’s there?” she asked into an app on her phone, and then she was gone.

Adrien sighed. It was an ominous but incredibly vague threat. He knew that, at this point, his father couldn’t  _ force _ him to do anything against his will, right?

So why did Nathalie’s words scare him so much?

Just then, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

Adrien huffed. She wasn’t gone long.

“Come in,” he called, but it wasn’t Nathalie who walked through his bedroom door; it was Marinette.

Adrien quickly stood up from his bed, his eyes going wide in surprise.

“Marinette,” he said. “Um. HI.”

“Hi,” she said. “Um. I have your work for this week.” She held out a stack of papers.

“Oh. Wow. Um. Thank you,” he said, taking the assignments and setting them on his desk.

She stood there awkwardly for a moment, clearly not knowing what to say to him.

“I just, um…” she started slowly, looking down at her feet. “I wanted to thank you. For defending me.”

Adrien nodded. “Of course. I, um… you’re my friend. And I know you’re mad at me, but… even if you don’t like  _ me _ anymore, I still care about you, and I couldn’t let him get away with that.”

Marinette’s cheeks started to turn slightly pink, and his heart melted instantly.

Suddenly, his bedroom door flew open.

“Adrien, you’ve got to- oh. Um, hi.” Chloé had clearly entered on a mission, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw Marinette standing there. She quirked one eyebrow, her gaze darting back and forth between the two of them. “What’s going on?”

“I was just bringing Adrien his work,” Marinette said quickly, moving to exit the room. “I’ll just be going now, so, um. Bye. See you guys at school.”

“Bye,” Adrien said. His shoulders fell after she was gone.

Chloé looked at him with both eyebrows raised. “What was  _ that _ all about?”

“She just came by to bring me my work and, um, thank me for defending her.” He let out an awkward laugh.

Chloé furrowed her brow. “Oh, yeah, by the way: where did  _ that _ come from?”

“What?”

“Adrien. You made Travis  _ bleed _ with one punch. You made it out without a scratch. And as far as I know, you’ve never been in a fight before in your life, so… where did it come from?”

_ From being Chat Noir, _ Adrien thought. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

“No idea,” he shrugged. “Adrenaline, maybe?”

Chloé narrowed her eyes at him. She hummed and nodded slowly.

“Okay, sure. Adrenaline.”

Adrien nodded.

“Or… maybe it’s because you’re Chat Noir.”

Adrien’s jaw dropped. “Because- I-  _ what?” _

Chloé nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Because you’re Chat Noir.”

Adrien started laughing borderline hysterically. “I am  _ not _ Chat Noir. I- I don’t- I mean- why would you even  _ think _ -” he trailed off when he saw Chloé staring at him, one eyebrow raised, clearly not buying it.

He sighed. “Fine. Yeah, I’m Chat Noir. Congratulations.”

She shook her head. “You’re so stupid. Did you really think I  _ didn’t _ know?”

Adrien furrowed his brow. “Wait, how long  _ have _ you known?”

She thought about it for a moment, doing the math in her head. “About three years.”

Adrien’s mouth fell open.  _ “Three years? _ And you never said anything?”

She shrugged. “I was waiting for  _ you _ to tell me so you could think your secret was still safe. You know, like how you knew I was gay before I told you, but you still didn’t say anything.”

“How did you know?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m your best friend, Adrien. Technically, I’m your girlfriend. I know everything about you.” She paused. “Plus, I saw Chat Noir go into your room once, and at first I thought you two were, like, hooking up or something, but I eventually put it together.”

He sighed. “Wow.”

“So...” Chloé said slowly. “This girl you’ve been seeing… I’m guessing she knows you as Chat Noir.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, looking down at her feet.

“And… I’m guessing she’s Marinette.”

His head snapped up to look at her, his eyes wide and alarmed. “How did you know that?”

Chloé huffed. “I’m not  _ blind, _ Adrien. I’ve seen the way you look at her. Plus, you beat someone up for tripping her. You’re obviously crazy about her.”

He felt his cheeks grow warm at her absolutely correct observation.

“And I’m not the only one who’s figured that out,” she continued, holding out her phone for him to see something. “Look. This is what I came over to show you.”

He looked at the phone to find a Tweet containing a video of the fight. His eyes went wide. “Someone was recording that?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “They were recording the protest, got the whole thing on camera, and immediately posted it. It’s  _ everywhere. _ People are convinced you’re in love with her and cheating on me with her. They’re calling you guys Adrienette.”

He groaned and put his face in his hands. “Oh no. She’s gonna be so mad when she sees that.”

“Speaking of which, I noticed she’s seemed mad at you lately,” Chloé said. “What’s that about?”

He cringed. “I… tried to kiss her when we were at the mall.”

_ “What?” _

“It was a mistake, I know, but I got so used to kissing her as Chat Noir that for a second I forgot I can’t just do that as Adrien, and  _ I _ thought we were having a moment, and now she’s mad at me for trying to cheat on my girlfriend.”

Chloé sat in stunned silence for a moment. “She’s mad at you… for trying to cheat on me?”

“Yeah.”

Chloé hummed. “Well… maybe I can help with that.”


	15. The Truth Comes Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chloé tells Marinette what's really going on.
> 
> (Did you catch the pun in the chapter title? "Comes out?" I'm so funny.)

Marinette had never particularly enjoyed attention very much. Sure, it was nice to be recognized for her talents and accomplishments every now and then, and she liked it when friends, family, and classmates acknowledged her achievements.

However, having a hoard of paparazzi follow her to school because of some stupid video that didn’t even tell the whole story was completely different. The camera flashes, the microphones shoved in her face, and the hundreds of questions being yelled at her about her relationship with Adrien were, frankly,  _ too much _ attention.

When she finally reached the school, Mme. Bustier ushered her inside. Marinette breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

“You are not allowed to enter this school without permission,” Mme. Bustier informed them, planting herself in front of the crowd. “And I guarantee that you will  _ never _ get permission, so you might as well leave now.”

They grumbled, but they left. At least for now.

“Thank you,” Marinette said to Mme. Bustier.

“Of course,” she responded kindly. “Why were they following you?”

Marinette huffed. “They think I’m dating Adrien.”

“Well, are you?” another voice asked before Mme. Bustier could respond. Marinette turned to see several of her classmates standing together, anxiously awaiting her response.

“No, I’m not,” Marinette responded. She was met with several disappointed sighs and groans.

“Marinette,” another voice said, and a hush fell over the group. Marinette turned to see Chloé standing a few feet away with her arms crossed. “Can we talk? In private?”

Marinette’s stomach lurched. They had been getting along a lot better lately, thanks to their truce, but if Chloé thought Marinette was trying to steal her boyfriend, this was not going to go well.

Someone gasped. “Don’t go with her, Marinette,” Rose hissed. “For your own safety!”

Marinette sighed. “Fine, Chloé.”

Chloé led the way into the locker room and checked to make sure it was completely empty. She stood in front of Marinette, who braced herself to be slapped.

“Are you okay?” Chloé asked.

Marinette furrowed her brow. “What?”

“I just wanted to check on you and see how you’re doing,” Chloé explained. “Y’know, with the paparazzi and stuff. I know it can be hard to handle them.”

Marinette stared at her for a moment, confused. She wasn’t… mad at her? She wasn’t going to hit her? This had to be a trap.

“It’s, um… kind of tough,” Marinette admitted cautiously.

Chloé smiled. “I know. It’s hard to be Adrien Agreste’s leading lady, huh? If you need to talk, I understand what you’re going through. I can help.”

Marinette nodded slowly, still unsure as to whether Chloé was being genuine or not.

“Are you not… mad at me?” Marinette asked warily.

Chloé let out a small laugh. “Not at all. I know Adrien’s not cheating on me.”

Marinette bit her bottom lip. She didn’t want Chloé to be misled by Adrien- shouldn’t she tell her that he tried to kiss her? Wasn’t it, like, the girl code, or something?

“Chloé…” she started. “I have to tell you something. And you’re not gonna like it, but-”

“Is this about him trying to kiss you?” Chloé interrupted. “Because he already told me about that.”

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “He did?”

“Of course.”

“And you really aren’t mad?”

“Nope?”

Marinette furrowed her brow. “Why not?”

Chloé paused for a long moment, seemingly having an internal debate with herself. Finally, she huffed, walked around to check the locker room again and make extra sure it was empty, and returned to Marinette.

“Can you keep a secret?” she asked, her voice hushed.

_ Like the fact that I’m Ladybug? _ Marinette thought.

“Yeah,” Marinette responded.

“Okay,” Chloé said, her tone now anxious. “I’m going to tell you something really important. And you have to promise not to tell  _ anyone. _ Okay?”

Marinette nodded. “Okay.”

Chloé took a deep breath. “Adrien and I aren’t really dating,” she blurted out, then slapped a hand over her mouth as if shocked she had said it.

Marinette’s eyes went wide. “You broke up?”

“No, we were never actually dating,” Chloé whispered.

Marinette’s jaw dropped.  _ “What? _ You’ve been  _ pretending _ to date this whole time?”

Chloé nodded.

“Why?”

“Um,” Chloé said, looking down at her feet and chewing on her bottom lip. “Well. I’m gay.”

Marinette froze. “You… are?”

“Yeah. And my father didn’t like it when I told him that, because he says that, as the mayor, he has a reputation to uphold, or something, so he wanted me to date a guy. So he set it up with Gabriel: Adrien and I would pretend to date, and it would look good for the mayor’s daughter to date a nice, respectable boy, and it would look good for Gabriel’s brand for his son and top model to date the mayor’s daughter. But we’ve never told anyone outside of our families- not even  _ Sabrina _ knows.”

“Really?”

Chloé nodded. “Really.”

“Then… why are you telling  _ me?” _

Chloé sighed. “Look, Adrien messed up, sure. But he didn’t cheat. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.”

“Oh.”

“He’s a really good guy, Marinette,” she told her earnestly. “I want you to know that. And I know that probably doesn’t mean all that much to you coming from me, but honestly, if it weren’t for him, I’d probably be that same brat I was in middle school. He’s the one who helped me change. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without him. He’s always helping me, so I wanted to do this so I could be the one to help  _ him _ for once.”

“Wow,” Marinette breathed. “Um. That’s really nice of you.”

Chloé nodded. “Just… don’t judge him too harshly, okay? He at least deserves another chance.” She turned to exit the locker room, but paused to turn back with her hand on the doorknob. “Seriously, though, don’t tell anyone about  _ anything  _ that I just told you. Okay?”

“Of course,” Marinette agreed.

Chloé smiled and left the room, and Marinette was alone with her shock about this new knowledge.

So, Adrien hadn’t tried to cheat after all. And if he could turn middle school Chloé into the Chloé she is now, he must be good. And he  _ did _ help organize the protest.  _ And _ beat someone up for her.

She felt a small smile grow on her face, and her heart fluttered. She tried to stop it by sheer force of will, but it was to no avail. She just couldn’t get over it.

Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.


	16. Obligatory "Eiffel Tower Date" Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chat keeps his mouth shut (for once).

Patrols in the era of “Chat having a girlfriend who is not Ladybug” were certainly different than they were before. Not worse; just different.

For one thing, Chat didn’t flirt with her anymore- at least not intentionally. Over the years he had become so accustomed to flirting with her that it more or less became a big part of the “Chat Noir” persona, and it was harder than he thought it would be to let go of it.

For another thing, Ladybug had been acting strange since around the same time he started dating Marinette, although it was hard to put his finger on what exactly was off with her.

He finally realized that the weird thing about her behavior was how much more  _ open _ she had become with him. She was suddenly more willing to share her feelings and random tidbits about her life; he supposed that maybe he had made her uncomfortable with his crush on her, causing her to close herself off, but when he started dating someone else, she was more comfortable with him.

But still, she wasn’t  _ completely _ open with him. Of course, that was to be expected from Ladybug, but lately, she almost seemed like she was keeping something from him. Well, obviously, she was  _ always _ keeping something from him, but now it just seemed like  _ more _ than just her identity. Like something else had happened that affected their partnership in some way, but she wouldn’t tell him what it was.

Whatever it was, it didn’t affect their partnership too much. They were doing better than ever, regularly taking down akumas in mere minutes. Now that he wasn’t so distracted by how much he loved her, he was more focused and a better teammate to her. Now that she seemed more comfortable and in-tune with him, she was better at predicting his movements and communicating with him.

He thought that- especially considering their new dynamic- she might be able to help him with something.

“Ladybug?” he asked one night toward the end of a patrol. “Can I ask you for some advice?”

She paused, giving him an odd look- almost apprehensive. “Go ahead.”

“So, I have a girlfriend now,” he started. She raised her eyebrows, but didn’t speak. “And I’m afraid the secret is kind of starting to… complicate things. I don’t want to mess anything up with her, and… I think it might be better if she knew who I was. Do you think it would be okay for me to tell her?”

Ladybug’s eyes went wide with what looked like panic for a brief moment before she composed herself.

“Um,” she stammered. “Honestly, Chat, it’s probably not a good idea.”

His cat ears drooped. “Oh.”

“I mean, like, I’m not in charge of you or anything, so do what you want, but- um- I, personally, think it might not be such a great idea. I mean, you don’t want to put this girl in danger, right?”

He nodded. “Right.”

Ladybug nodded. “Good. Then, um. I wouldn’t tell her, if I were you.”

He nodded. “You’re right.”

They stood in tense silence for a long moment.

“So, um…” Ladybug said slowly. “What’s your girlfriend like?”

Chat looked up at her and beamed, his mood already vastly improved.

“She’s awesome,” he said, and Ladybug smiled. “She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and she’s funny, and, like, ridiculously talented, and super smart, and… she’s just amazing.”

Ladybug smiled softly at him. “I’m glad you found her.”

Chat sighed happily. “Me, too.”

***

That night, an hour after patrol ended, Chat went to Marinette’s house. He always waited a while before going to see her after a patrol; he wanted to give Ladybug a chance to get home before he went out because he didn’t want to run into her and have to explain what he was doing at a random civilian’s house in the middle of the night. He didn’t want her knowing that he used the suit for romantic purposes.

He knocked on her trapdoor, and mere moments later, it swung open to reveal Marinette waiting beneath it. She smiled up at him. “Hey, Kitty.”

He smiled at the nickname. “Hey, Princess.”

She scooted over, giving him room to enter the room. “Come on down,” she welcomed him.

He hummed. “Actually, I was thinking maybe  _ you _ should come  _ up _ this time.”

“What?”

He smirked down at her. “I think it’s time we go out on our first real date.”

She smiled.

***

As he carried her over the streets of Paris, reveling in the feeling of the wind whipping in his hair, he couldn’t help but remember the first night they met. It was a huge coincidence that he was even out at all that night; he usually would have been home already, but after Ladybug had rejected him again, he wanted to stay out a while to clear his head. And thank goodness he had; if he had gone home, Marinette might have died when she walked out in front of that car by accident.

He hugged her tightly to him at the thought. What would his life even be like now if he hadn’t met her? He most likely wouldn’t have had the courage to post that Instagram video or to stand up to his father. He wouldn’t have quit modeling, which was one of the best decisions of his life. He wouldn’t have enrolled himself in school. He wouldn’t have met Nino or Alya. He would still be the “perfect son” his father had forced him to be for so long. He would still be miserable.

Yes, she had changed everything for him. She was truly one of the best things that had ever happened to him. Which, of course, was why he had to show her his appreciation.

About ten minutes after they left her balcony, he touched down at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

“Welcome,” he said, setting her down. “To our first real date.”

Her eyes went wide as she looked around. “Chat,” she breathed. “This is… amazing.”

He smiled at his handiwork. The top floor of the tower sparkled with hanging lights, accented by the occasional plant. He had wanted to do more, but there wasn’t much time between the tower’s closing time and the beginning of patrol.

“Do you like it?” he asked, looking to her for approval.

She smiled widely. “I  _ love _ it.”

They sat down for a home-cooked dinner he had made himself. Being locked away in his house for all those years had been… well, horrible, but at least he had come out of it with a skill or two.

After they finished eating, they sat down together at the edge of the tower, their legs dangling off the side and their hands intertwined. She leaned her head on his shoulder with a small sigh. He couldn’t help but smile. He adored her.

In that moment, he wanted to tell her who he was. He wanted so badly to make the secret go away so that, maybe, they could have this all the time. Even when he wasn’t Chat Noir.

But then he remembered Ladybug’s words.

_ It’s probably not a good idea. _

He sighed. She was right. Ladybug was  _ always _ right about these things.

And he kept his mouth shut.


	17. Adrien and Marinette Have a Heart-To-Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang takes their protest up a notch, and something drastic happens.

It had been a week since the fight, and Adrien was finally back at school. He was just in time, too; the restroom rule still hadn’t changed, so today was the day they were taking their protest up a notch.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted them as they were setting up. He was wearing his t-shirt from their last protest. “Can I help?”

Marinette and Alya glanced at each other, wary after what happened last time.

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Alya asked.

Adrien chuckled. “I promise I won’t beat anyone up this time.”

Alya grinned. “Then you’re in.” She sent Marinette a sideways glance. “You can help Marinette with the cuffs.”

She thrust a box full of handcuffs into Marinette’s arms and was gone.

Adrien furrowed his brow and stared at the handcuffs. “Okay, so, what’s the plan for today?”

Marinette sighed and started handing out cuffs to volunteers. “We’re forming human chains to block off the bathrooms. If trans people can’t pee safely, neither can cis people.”

He nodded. “Bold. I like it.”

She glanced at him as he handed out cuffs, remembering what Chloé had told her about him. Maybe she  _ was _ wrong about him after all. And maybe she owed him an apology.

“Adrien,” she said. “Um. Can I talk to you for a minute? In private?”

“Um. Yeah, sure.”

They walked into the nearest empty classroom and shut the door behind them.

“What’s up?” Adrien asked, a worried expression showing on his face.

“Um,” Marinette stammered. “Chloé told me about… the two of you.”

He furrowed his brow. “Um. What…  _ exactly _ did she tell you?”

Marinette paused. “She told me you’re her beard.”

Adrien’s eyes widened. “She  _ told _ you?”

“Yeah,” Marinette nodded. “And, um. I just wanted to say… that’s really cool of you. To help her out like that. You’re a good friend.”

He nodded slowly. “Thanks.”

“And…” she looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed. “I shouldn’t have judged you so harshly. I had all these preconceived notions of who you were, and I let them cloud my judgement and blind me from seeing who you  _ actually _ are. And I’m sorry for that.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Adrien assured her. “After all, you  _ did _ think I was trying to cheat on my girlfriend- and with good reason- so I don’t blame you for hating me.” He paused. “I’m sorry about that, by the way. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Marinette smiled softly. “It’s okay. But, um, I have a boyfriend, so…”

He nodded. “Right. Of course.”

They stood there silently for a moment. “Well, we should probably get back to the protest. It’s almost time to get started.”

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

They started to make their way toward the door, but Marinette stopped him when he touched the handle.

“Wait,” she said. “Um. No one else actually knows that I have a boyfriend. It’s kind of a secret. So, could you please just… keep it to yourself? Don’t mention it to Alya or Nino or anyone?”

He smiled. “Of course.” He pulled the door open and held it for her.

When they returned to the protest, people were starting to link themselves together. They quickly handed out their last few pairs of handcuffs, then cuffed themselves together and joined the chain.

It went relatively well. A few people tried to get into the restrooms before they realized they weren’t getting anywhere and gave up. They did a few chants, and Alya was on the bullhorn again.

Then, of course, the paparazzi showed up and started taking pictures.

“Marinette!” one of them called. “What’s it like dating Adrien?”

She scowled. “We’re not dating.”

“Just try to ignore them,” Adrien advised her under his breath. “Don’t give them what they want.”

Marinette nodded and steeled herself, trying to ignore the cameras flashing in her face and the onslaught of questions being hurled at her.

She didn’t have to hold on for too long, though; the protest was interrupted by an alarm sounding throughout the school.

Marinette’s stomach lurched. It was the akuma alarm.

“Everyone get to a classroom to take cover,” Alya yelled into the bullhorn as Nino removed the handcuffs linking the two of them together. “Go! Hurry! Be safe!”

Taking a quick glance around to make sure no one noticed, Marinette dashed inside the nearest restroom and ducked inside a stall to transform.

***

It wasn’t a particularly difficult akuma. It was an elderly woman who was upset about her grandchildren not calling when they were supposed to. They took her down and purified the akuma pretty quickly and relatively easily. Chat didn’t even have to use his cataclysm.

_ “Bien joué,”  _ the two teenage superheroes said, both grinning as their fists connected.

“Nice job today,” Ladybug commented to her partner.

“You, too,” he beamed in response.

Ladybug’s earrings beeped. “Oops,” she said. “Gotta go. See you later, Chat!”

“Later, LB!”

She swung back to the school and detransformed in a secluded alleyway behind the building, then headed inside.

“Hey,” she said when she found Nino and Alya. “Everyone okay in here?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Alya told her. She glanced behind Marinette with a furrowed brow. “Where’s Adrien?”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked. “Isn’t he in here?”

Alya shook her head. “No- no one’s seen him since the protest. We thought you two were together somewhere.”

Marinette shook her head. “I haven’t seen him, either. Should we go look for him?”

Nino nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They searched the whole school, looking in various classrooms and calling out his name, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Maybe he went outside for some reason,” Alya suggested. “It’s his first akuma alarm. Maybe he didn’t know where to go.”

“Maybe,” Marinette agreed, and they headed outside to look for him. They wandered into the alleyway behind the school where Marinette had detransformed. Marinette knew it was useless to check there since it was empty just minutes ago, but she also knew she couldn’t explain why she was back here, so she just went with it.

When they turned the corner into the alley, though, she was surprised to see a figure standing there, dressed in all black, his back to them. He wore a familiar tail and cat ears.

_ “Detransformé moi,” _ he said, and there was a bright flash of green light.

Before Marinette could even react, the light was gone, and the figure had turned around.

And Adrien Agreste was standing in front of her.


	18. It Hits The Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette and Adrien both have a lot of explaining to do.

Adrien released his transformation and turned around to head inside, but he froze in his tracks when he saw Alya, Nino, and Marinette staring at him with wide eyes and gaping jaws.

Uh oh.

He knows he should say something. Something brilliantly thought-out that will explain away what they’ve just seen. Something that will convince them he’s  _ not _ Chat Noir, and that will let him tell his girlfriend who he is in his own way, on his own time.

Instead, he says: “Um.”

Marinette turns around and runs off.

“Mari,” he calls after her, moving to run toward her.

“Dude,” Nino stops him. “You can’t just run away after this. We have questions.”

“We’ll be late to class,” Adrien protested.

“We have lunch next,” Alya pointed out.

“But Marinette-”

“ _ I’ll _ go check on Marinette,” Alya volunteered. “But Nino, I’m going to text you a list of questions. Take detailed notes.”

***

After being grilled by Nino- who only actually had two or three questions of his own, but several dozen questions from his girlfriend- Adrien rushed inside to find Marinette.

He first went to their usual lunch table, but he only found Chloé and Sabrina sitting there.

“Adrien,” Chloé called, standing up and approaching him. “Where have you been?” She furrowed her brow at his clearly worried appearance. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

Adrien huffed. “Marinette found out about me, okay?” he told her in a hushed voice.

Chloé’s eyes went wide. “You mean… the big thing?”

He nodded. “Alya and Nino know, too. They all saw me get back.”

Chloé cursed under her breath.

“And Marinette ran off before I got a chance to talk to her, and now I don’t know where she is.”

“I haven’t seen her,” Chloé said. “Do you want me to help you look?”

He shook his head. “No, thank you, it’s fine. I’ll find her.”

He searched the rest of the cafeteria, but she was nowhere to be seen. He checked several classrooms, but still couldn’t find her. He wondered if he should’ve sent Chloé into the bathrooms to check for her.

Finally, lunch ended, and he had to abandon his search to go to class. After sitting down at his desk, he spent the next several minutes staring intently at the door, tapping his foot anxiously as he waited for Marinette to arrive. He never saw her, but at the very end of passing period, Alya entered the room.

“Where’s Marinette?” he asked her immediately.

Alya sighed. “She went home.”

“What? Why?”

Alya took her seat and pursed her lips. “She told me. About the two of you.”

Adrien’s heart stopped momentarily. “Told you what?”

Alya leaned closer to him, her voice hushed. “About your nighttime visits.”

Adrien cringed. “Is she okay?”

Alya crossed her arms. “Well, she’s kind of freaking out. And understandably so.”

Adrien rubbed his hand down his face. “What can I do? You’re her best friend, Alya- how can I fix this?”

Alya sighed. “Honestly? I think she just needs time. She’ll come around. She just needs to cool down a bit.” She suddenly fixed him with a stony glare. “In the meantime, I think  _ you _ need to have a conversation with your  _ girlfriend.” _ She shot a pointed glance at Chloé.

Great. Now Alya thought he was a cheater, too.

Before he could say anything else, Mme. Bustier walked in and started class.

Okay, so she needed time. He could give her that. Even if he couldn’t give her a private, rational identity reveal, he could give her time. Surely.

But how much time, exactly? After all, this was kind of a big deal. Shouldn’t they at least  _ talk _ about it? How long should he give her before having this conversation? Would she be able to ‘cool down,’ as Alya had put it, in the next few hours? Could he go see her tonight? Would she even let him in if he did?

He wasn’t so sure she would. After all, she had only barely started to come around to him as Adrien; she was probably losing her mind over the fact that he was actually her boyfriend and didn’t tell her.

Suddenly, a startling thought occurred to Adrien. What if she hated Adrien more than she liked Chat? What if she felt so betrayed that she couldn’t continue to be with him? What if she felt so lied to that she felt she had to break up with him.

Adrien chewed on his lower lip and slid down in his seat. His heart sank with the knowledge that his relationship was surely over.

***

He decided to go to her house that night. He wasn’t sure if she’d let him in at all, but he figured he should at least try.

His heart raced as he made his way there. What if she dumped him? What if tonight was the last time he would get to go see her like this? What if he never got to kiss her or hold her hand again?

At last, he landed on her balcony and hesitantly knocked on the trapdoor.

There was no answer.

He sighed. Of course she didn’t want to see him. Why would she?

He waited a minute longer, but still no response. He stood up and turned toward the balcony railing to leave.

But then, just before he leapt off the railing, he heard the trapdoor open behind him.

He turned back to see the top of Marinette’s head poking up through the floor and watching him. He stared at her silently for a moment, not knowing if he should say anything or if it was too soon.

“Hi,” he finally said awkwardly.

“Hi,” she replied softly. He couldn’t make out what she was feeling.

“Um. Can I come in?”

She paused for a long moment before wordlessly moving out of the way, allowing him to drop through the trapdoor into her room. He landed with a small bounce on her bed, then climbed down to stand in front of her in the middle of her bedroom.

They were silent for a mini-eternity while he tried- and failed- to read  _ any _ emotions on her face.

“Why are you still wearing that?” she finally asked. “It’s not like you have a secret to hide anymore.”

He exhaled. “You’re right.” And he released his transformation.

He heard her breath hitch when she looked at him after the suit was gone. She started blinking rapidly.

“Look, Mari,” he started. “I know I owe you an explanation, so here it is: I knew you didn’t like me- Adrien, I mean- so I wanted to try to get you to come around to me before I told you, and plus, Ladybug told me that telling you could put you in danger, so-”

“Adrien,” she interrupted. “I… I get it.”

He furrowed her brow. “You do?”

She nodded and bit her lower lip. “Yeah. I understand why you didn’t tell me. But… now I have to tell  _ you _ something.”

“What?”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if bracing herself for something.

_ “Tikki, transformé moi!” _ There was a blindingly bright flash of pink light, and when the spots in his vision cleared, Ladybug was standing before him.

His jaw fell open. “Ladybug?”

She wrung her hands together. “Hey, Kitty.”

“Marinette, you- you’re  _ Ladybug? _ This whole time?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed sheepishly, her tone apologetic.

“But… you kept rejecting me.”

“I know,” she said, looking down at her feet. “But, honestly? I’ve liked you back the whole time we’ve known each other. I just didn’t want to put our partnership in jeopardy. But I thought if you didn’t  _ know _ you were dating Ladybug, it might work.” She looked back up at him. “Are you mad?”

He had tears welling up in his eyes. “Mad?” he repeated, his bottom lip quivering. “How could I possibly be  _ mad?” _

He immediately rushed forward and scooped her up in a tight hug, which she quickly reciprocated.

She sniffed. “I’m sorry I kept it from you.”

He laughed. “Hey,  _ I _ kept a big secret from you, too.”

“I was so scared you would be mad at me,” she confessed.

“I was scared of that, too,” he admitted. He pulled away to look into her eyes, his arms still partially around her. “But it looks like neither of us needed to worry about that, after all. We were keeping the same secret.”

She laughed, and he saw a single tear spill out the corner of her eye and trace a path down her cheek. “I can’t believe you had to sit in here and listen to me rant about how much I hated you.”

He laughed and reached toward her to wipe the tear off her face. “Yeah, that was pretty weird.” He wiped a tear from her mask. “But it was all worth it now that I’m here with you. Now that it’s out.”

***

When he got home that night, he immediately collapsed backwards on his bed, exhausted from the emotional roller coaster he’d had that day.

He tried to go to sleep, but he just couldn’t get his brain to shut up. It was filled with thoughts of Marinette, Ladybug- scenes and memories played through his head, trying to get used to the thought of them being the same person.

He smiled, giddy. This was the best day of his life.

However, that thought didn’t last long. A while after he got home, his bedroom door swung open.

Adrien sat bolt upright in his bed, squinting into the darkness to see who it was, until the light switched on to reveal Gabriel standing just inside his doorway with Nathalie standing behind him.

“Father?” Adrien asked, his brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

“You’re out of control, Adrien,” his father told him, his voice cold. “But I know how to make you be better. I know how to get the old Adrien back. Nathalie?”

With a grim- almost apologetic- look on her face, Nathalie extended her hand toward Gabriel. She was holding a small gray box with a red button on the top of it.

“I’m sorry about this, Adrien,” Gabriel said, his hand hovering over the button. Adrien was slightly taken aback by the remorse in his father’s voice. He hadn’t spoken with any emotion other than anger in a long time. “But it’s for your own good. You’ll see.”

When he pressed the button, there was a huge  _ clanging  _ sound from all around them, and Adrien jumped backwards when he saw large metal bars extend themselves over his windows. His eyes went wide. He jumped out of bed and rushed to the windows to look outside. His stomach sank when he realized every exit was encased by metal bars. It wasn’t a house anymore; it was a prison. It had always felt like one, of course, but he never thought it would actually become a literal one. He knew about the security system, obviously, but he always thought it was meant to keep bad guys out- not to keep him  _ in. _

He turned back to his father. “Why are you doing this?”

Gabriel pursed his lips. “You’ll understand. All in due time.”

Adrien shuddered at his ominous words. Before he could respond, Gabriel opened his mouth to speak again, his eyes now dark.

_ “Nooroo, transformé moi.” _ ’


	19. Forever and Always

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette receives an alarming phone call.

Marinette sighed happily to herself as she lay in her bed, staring at her ceiling and replaying the previous night in her head.

When she saw Adrien detransform, she had, admittedly, freaked out. She didn’t even know how to react- honestly, how are you  _ supposed _ to react to finding out your boyfriend is secretly someone you hated for so long? She didn’t know what to do, and she certainly didn’t want to talk to him until she had cleared her head, so she pretended to be sick and went home early. After telling Alya everything, of course. She probably shouldn’t have done that, but she couldn’t help it. She was upset and panicking, and Alya came in to check on her, and everything just came spilling out.

But at least it all turned out okay in the end. They knew each other’s identities now, and neither of them was mad at the other for keeping it a secret. The way the reveal had happened wasn’t exactly ideal, and she was a bit worried about what this could mean for their partnership, but she couldn’t deny that it felt good to have it all out there at long last.

She let out an abrupt laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. If someone had told her before yesterday that  _ Adrien Agreste _ of all people was her boyfriend, there was no way she would have believed them.

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing with Alya’s ringtone. She leaned over to grab the phone and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Mari, I’m freaking out.”

Marinette furrowed her brow. “What’s going on?”

“I think Adrien might be in trouble,” Alya said.

Marinette sat up quickly. “What’s wrong?”

“I was just taking a walk and passed the mansion. There are, like,  _ prison bars _ over all the doors and windows.”

_ “What?” _

“Yeah. Over Adrien’s window, too. And I know it could just be some security system for weird billionaires, but… what if something’s wrong?”

Marinette was already climbing out of bed. “I’m on my way.”

***

Marinette arrived at the mansion ten minutes later with half-brushed hair, wearing mismatched shoes and the same clothes she wore yesterday. As soon as the mansion came into her field of vision, she could see what Alya was talking about: there were gray metal bars blocking every entrance.

“Hey,” Alya greeted her, her face lined with worry. “I keep calling him, but he won’t pick up. Do you think he’s okay?”

“I have no idea,” Marinette confessed. “Maybe we should check in at the front gate and see if everything’s okay?”

Alya nodded. “Yeah. Let’s try that.”

They cautiously approached the front gate and ran the doorbell. Immediately, a compartment opened up to reveal a camera that extended out toward them.

“Yes?” a woman’s stony voice asked.

“Hi, um,” Marinette started, her mind racing. “We’re in Adrien’s class, and we’re doing a group project together, and we’re supposed to work on it today-”

“Adrien’s not home,” the woman interrupted.

“A- are you sure?” Marinette asked. “Because he asked us to come over today-”

“He’s not home,” she repeated. “Goodbye.”

And with that, the camera withdrew back into the wall, and the compartment door closed.

They walked back to the other side of the street.

“What should we do?” Alya asked.

Marinette considered it. She needed to transform and see if she could get inside somehow to check on him, but how could she get Alya to leave so she could do it without revealing her identity?

“Honestly,” Marinette said slowly. “I’m not sure there’s anything we  _ can _ do. And if something  _ did  _ happen, what if Gabriel or his assistant see us out here and think we’re onto them. We should probably head home to be safe. But we can keep calling.”

Alya sighed. “I guess you’re right. We probably will be safer at home.”

Marinette nodded. “Exactly. I mean, I hate to leave, but we don’t know what’ll happen if we stay.”

“Yeah,” Alya agreed. “I guess I’ll head home. See ya.”

“Bye. Be safe.”

“You, too.”

Marinette turned and walked in the direction of her house until Alya had turned the corner. Then, she ducked into an alley and transformed.

She couldn’t help the millions of thoughts running through her head in that moment. What had happened after Adrien went home last night? Why would Gabriel trap him like this?

Her eyes suddenly went wide as a thought occurred to her. What if Gabriel had caught him coming back in as Chat Noir? What if  _ that _ was why he wanted to imprison him inside his own house- to keep him safe?

She was trying desperately to slow her own breathing, but it wasn’t working. She took out her yo-yo and tried to call him on the off chance that he was actually fine and transformed for some reason. He didn’t pick up.

She huffed and put her yo-yo away, pacing back and forth in the alley as she formulated her plan. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to the house in case that made Gabriel angrier than he already might be, but it was hard  _ not _ to draw attention as Ladybug. And besides, she couldn’t sneak onto the mansion grounds or climb up to Adrien’s window as Marinette, so she was out of options. Her only chance was to go in as Ladybug and risk drawing attention to herself.

Doing her best to keep quiet and hidden from view, she leapt up to the rooftop of the building across the street from the mansion. From there, she tossed her yo-yo across the street and quickly infiltrated Gabriel’s property. She crept through the gardens, staying as low to the ground as possible and attempting to conceal herself behind bushes and tall plants. Finally, when she was standing beneath Adrien’s window, she three her yo-yo toward it, hooked it around one of the metal bars, and pulled herself up.

Once she had landed and steadied herself, she immediately peered in through the window in search of Adrien. She gasped. He was sitting in his room, tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth.

She waved at him to get his attention. When he saw her, his face immediately creased in worry, and he started frantically shaking his head “no.”

“I’ll save you,” she mouthed at him, trying to calm him down, but he only seemed to become more desperate. “It’s okay. I’ll help you.”

Suddenly, Adrien’s gaze shifted to something behind her, and his eyes went wide. Ladybug furrowed her brow and turned around just in time to see a flying woman dressed as a peacock grab her and pull a bag over her head.

***

When her captors finally removed the bag from her head, she was tied to a chair in Adrien’s bedroom, sitting next to the blond boy.

“Let me go,” she demanded, craning her neck to try to see who was holding them hostage. She turned to Adrien. “What’s going on? Where’s your father?”

Adrien couldn’t speak through the gag in his mouth, and Ladybug’s wrists were bound behind her, so she couldn’t help him. He tried to speak, but all that came out were unintelligible muffled noises. He tilted his head and pointed behind them.

“Gabriel is the one keeping us here?” she asked.

He nodded frantically.

“That’s enough,” a voice drawled, and then there was a gag in Ladybug’s mouth, too.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure slowly walk into her field of view. Finally, he was standing in front of her.

Hawkmoth.

Ladybug’s heart jolted. She looked back at Adrien and saw that he had the beginnings of tears in his eyes. She pointed at Hawkmoth with her head, asking an unspoken question, and he nodded sadly.

Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth.

Adrien looked at his father with pleading eyes and let out a small groan.

Hawkmoth huffed and looked at someone behind them. “Nathalie, let him speak.

In her peripheral vision, Ladybug saw Gabriel’s assistant, Nathalie, remove the gag from Adrien’s mouth. Something sparkly caught her eye- a peacock-shaped brooch pinned to the woman’s pantsuit. The peacock miraculous.

“Why are you doing this, father?” Adrien asked the moment his mouth was free.

“Because you’re not acting like yourself anymore,” Hawkmoth explained. “But I know you will go back to normal when you have your mother back.”

Ladybug froze, her eyes wide. Adrien’s  _ mother? _

She looked to Adrien, whose mouth had fallen open in shock, his eyes wide.

“My… mother?” he repeated, his voice soft, broken all over again.

Hawkmoth nodded. “If I can obtain both Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous, I can gain absolute power and bring your mother back. And I know that, with her back in your life, you’ll be happy again, and you won’t feel the need to act out like this. Now that I have Ladybug, Chat Noir is surely on his way to help, and I’ll be able to take both of their miraculous.”

Adrien stared at him silently for a long moment, his mouth still hanging ajar. Ladybug watched him apprehensively, knowing that it must be agonizing for him to refuse such an offer. Adrien could have his  _ mother back. _ It would be difficult for anyone to refuse, but thankfully, she knew Adrien was a good person, and he wouldn’t help his father with this.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Adrien asked quietly.

Ladybug furrowed her brow. She had expected Adrien to tell off Gabriel for trying to play God or change who he is. Instead, he said something very different.

“If you had told me sooner, I could’ve helped you.”

Ladybug’s breath hitched, her stomach plummeting in horror. What was he  _ doing? _

Hawkmoth paused for a moment. “Really? You would have helped me?”

“Of course,” Adrien insisted, his voice heartbreakingly sincere. “You know I’d do anything to have her back.”

Hawkmoth smiled a sickening grin. “Of course. I should have never doubted you, son. Nathalie, untie him.”

Nathalie unbound Adrien’s wrist, and the blond stood up, rubbing the sensitive skin where the ropes had rubbed him raw.

Ladybug leaned forward in her seat and tried to talk some sense into him, but her words were muffled through the gag in her mouth.

“I’m sorry, Ladybug,” Adrien said, turning so that he was facing her and had his back to Hawkmoth. “I know you came to save me and now I’m betraying you, or something, but I  _ need _ to get my mom back. I’m sorry.”

She let out a soft whimper, a last-ditch effort at changing his mind.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “But I have to do this.”

Then he winked at her.

Ladybug let out a soft exhale of relief at the realization that he was just acting for his father’s benefit. Of course he wouldn’t be so stupid. She should have known better.

After all, he was her Chaton, and he would have her back no matter what. Forever and always.


	20. Hawkie is Impatient

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien receives help from a surprising source.

Hawkmoth groaned, exasperated, as he looked out the window. The sky was now dark. “How long is Chat Noir going to take to show up?”

“I’m sure he’s on his way,” Adrien lied. “Don’t worry.”

“It’s been  _ hours,”  _ Hawkmoth said. He shook his head and started toward Ladybug. “I’m just going to take her miraculous now.”

“No!” Adrien panicked and grabbed his father’s arm to stop him.

Hawkmoth turned back to look at him, his withering gaze clearly suspicious. “Why not?”

Adrien swallowed hard. “Because, um, they probably have trackers on their suits, right? So they can find each other. But if she detransforms now, then Chat Noir might not be able to find her when he comes looking, and we won’t be able to get his miraculous.”

His heart pounded as his father stared him down silently. Finally, the taller man nodded. “Good thinking.”

He had to hold himself back from letting out a sigh of relief. A moment later, Nathalie’s iPad buzzed for probably the five hundredth time in the past hour. She pursed her lips and checked the screen, then huffed.

“Sir,” she said, her tone clearly annoyed. “The Bourgeois girl has been at the gate for two hours. She won’t leave.”

Adrien furrowed his brow. “Chloé? What’s she doing here?”

“She says she saw the bars over your windows, and now she’s demanding to be let in,” Nathalie explained. “She’s very stubborn.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her.”

“Let her in,” Hawkmoth said. “She can just be extra bait for Chat Noir.”

Nathalie nodded and hit a button on her iPad. Adrien bit his tongue to keep himself from yelling at them to stop; he didn’t want to put Chloé in harm’s way, but he knew that if they didn’t let her in now, she would somehow manage to find her own way in, even with bars blocking all the entrances. Plus, he wanted Hawkmoth to trust him, right? At least until he could find a way to stop him.

Within minutes, he heard footsteps pounding up the stairs at what sounded like a full sprint, Chloé’s voice shrill as she called his name. Hawkmoth looked at Adrien and put a finger to his lips to tell him to be quiet.

Chloé came running into the room, and Nathalie immediately grabbed her. The blonde let out a yelp. “Adrien!” she exclaimed, trying to fight Nathalie off as the taller- and surprisingly strong- woman dragged her to the chair Adrien had previously occupied to tie her up. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Chloé,” he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking at the sight of one of his best friends being bound and gagged while he allowed it to happen. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

Chloé stared at him for a moment until her gaze drifted to Hawkmoth. Her eyes grew wide and she began to whimper as she struggled to escape her bonds. When she turned her head and saw Ladybug sitting next to her, she gasped. Adrien could see tears starting to form in her eyes.

Adrien knew what she must be thinking. She knew Adrien was Chat Noir, and she thought he was working with Hawkmoth. Seeing that Ladybug had already been captured must have drained her of any hope she had left. He hated himself for doing that to her.

He took a deep breath to fight back the tears that were starting to well up. Once his eyes were dry again, he turned to his father, watching him and trying to come up with a plan.

What could he possibly do to stop him? He wasn’t transformed right now, and transforming would mean revealing his identity to his father. If he wasn’t able to stop him, he could get captured again, and his father could get his miraculous. He couldn’t let that happen. So, he would have to be Adrien for this one.

He had never fought as Adrien before, save for that one time in the cafeteria. And even then, he was hardly aware of what he was doing; he wasn’t thinking at all, he was just acting on instinct. He didn’t know what to do without being fueled entirely by pure adrenaline. Especially when his opponent currently had super powers, while he did not.

Maybe if he could lull him into a false sense of security, he could just take his miraculous. After all, without his super powers, his father was just a normal man. Kind of old, probably not particularly agile; surely Adrien could take him if he tried to fight back, right?

He took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm his racing heart.

“Father,” he started. It took all his effort to keep his voice steady, especially when he heard Chloé gasp and realized she had just figured out that Gabriel was Hawkmoth. “You know that I’m with you all the way and that I truly want to help you with your cause, right?”

Hawkmoth eyed him warily. “Of course, son.” Adrien could tell from his tone that he was still a tad bit suspicious of him, despite his trusting words.

“And Nathalie has a miraculous too, right?”

“Yes.”

“So… does that mean there are  _ more _ miraculous somewhere?”

Hawkmoth narrowed his eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, pretending to be sheepish, and laughed nervously. “Well, I was just thinking that it seems like it would be really cool to have a miraculous. And I was hoping that maybe one day after you get all of the miraculous, you could give one to me.” He smiled hopefully at his father, but it pained his heart to do so.

Hawkmoth hummed. “Perhaps.”

Adrien took a step toward him, plastering an eager smile across his face. “And Mother could have a miraculous, too,” he continued. “And we could be like a team!”

Hawkmoth paused. “I’m not sure I’ll have much use for a miraculous after we get your mother back.”

“Sure you will,” Adrien insisted, taking another step toward him. “We could use them to help the brand, or even just to have fun as a family.”

Hawkmoth’s eyes drifted off, seemingly considering it. “Maybe.”

Adrien glanced at Nathalie and noticed she was busy with her iPad. While Hawkmoth was looking away, Adrien mouthed a single word at Ladybug and Chloé: “distract.”

They got his cue almost immediately and started struggling with their bonds again, kicking and pulling as they groaned.

Hawkmoth sneered at them in disdain.

“It sure would be fun to have a miraculous,” Adrien continued while his father wasn’t watching him. “Maybe I’ll just take yours.”

He suddenly lunged forward and ripped the butterfly miraculous off of Hawkmoth’s body. There was a bright purple flash of light, and he was Gabriel again. Adrien heard Nathalie gasp, followed by a shattering sound he could only assume was from her iPad dropping to the floor.

Gabriel snarled at him. “Adrien, give that back.”

“Never,” Adrien said. He started toward the door, but Gabriel was faster than he thought he would be. The taller man quickly grabbed him from behind by both of his arms and pulled him backwards, spinning him around.

Adrien’s eyes went wide with panic when he saw Gabriel’s hand reared back, poised to hit him.

Before he could even brace himself, there was a loud  _ thud, _ and Gabriel crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Adrien’s jaw dropped when he saw Nathalie standing behind where his father had been. She was holding a baseball bat that usually sat underneath Adrien’s bed in case of an intruder.

“Nathalie,” Adrien breathed. “You… why did you do that?”

Nathalie looked down at the unconscious Gabriel lying in a pile on the floor, then back up at Adrien. Her face was as hard as ever, but her eyes had a softness in them he had never seen before.

“I told you I cared about you,” she reminded him. “I wasn’t going to let him hurt you any more than he already had.”


	21. All Was Golden in the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our favorite characters find their paths to a happy ending.

The police arrived soon after they called. Gabriel was awake but groggy when they started to hear sirens from the mansion. They had given him a taste of his own medicine and tied him to a chair.

Chloé was, with good reason, freaking out.

“Your father was Hawkmoth?” she said for about the tenth time. “This whole time,  _ he _ was  _ Hawkmoth?” _

“Yes, Chloé.”

Ladybug lays a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Chloé’s head snaps up to look at her. “No, I’m not okay! I just got kidnapped by Hawkmoth and found out he’s my best friend’s dad!”

“She means boyfriend,” Nathalie corrected her. Ladybug knew from talking to Adrien that Nathalie was in on the whole “fake relationship” thing, but clearly, Nathalie still wanted to preserve the image. Not that there was much of an image left to preserve after tonight, of course.

Chloé groaned and put her face in her hands. “No, I  _ don’t _ mean boyfriend.”

Adrien laughed and put his arm around her. “Love you, too, sweetie.”

Chloé glared at him. “This is not the time for jokes. Shut up before I untie your sorry excuse for a dad and let him run free and wreak havoc.”

Adrien rolled his eyes fondly, but removed his arm from her shoulders. Ladybug took him by the elbow and gently pulled him aside, away from the others.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Are you okay?”

He looked down at his feet. “I’m… managing. Trying to stay calm for Chloé, y’know? Can’t have  _ everyone  _ panicking in a crisis.”

She took his hand in hers and stroked the back of it with her thumb. “Is there anything I can do?”

He shook his head and gave her a soft smile. “You’ve done all you can. I’ll get over it. I promise. Besides, it’ll be kind of nice to have him gone. I won’t have to deal with my father anymore, and  _ we _ won’t have to deal with Hawkmoth.”

She nodded. “I guess not.”

Several police officers entered the room, Nathalie having let them in through an app on the iPad.

“That’s him, officers,” Chloé pointed at Gabriel and sniffed, dramatic as ever. “That’s Hawkmoth. That’s the man who  _ kidnapped me. _ Take him away!”

Gabriel groaned but didn’t fight back as the officers untied his wrists and handcuffed him to lead him out the door. The four of them followed him down the stairs and out the front door, where he was shoved into the back of a police car. They all stared in cold silence, watching the police cars drive away. Ladybug noticed that they had attracted a crowd. Several cameras flashed in their faces.

Ladybug swallowed as the cars turned around the corner and disappeared. It was hard to believe it was actually over. She wouldn’t have to worry about Hawkmoth anymore. Plus, she was dating Chat Noir. Those two things were all she had wanted since she was thirteen.

But still, she couldn’t bring herself to be happy about Hawkmoth’s defeat. Not when it was Gabriel Agreste. Not when Adrien had to find out that his own father was the source of Paris’s suffering. Not when the boy she loved so dearly was hurting.

Many bystanders lingered, but thankfully, none approached them or tried to ask them any questions. At least they had enough decency for that.

Finally, after several minutes, the four of them decided to head back inside. Ladybug immediately led Adrien into a room away from Nathalie and Chloé, then pulled him into a tight hug the moment the doors were closed behind them.

She wanted to tell him she loved him. She knew it was true, and she had no qualms about saying it- except that they hadn’t actually said that to each other yet, and she didn’t want the memory of it to be tarnished by the memory of the rest of the day. So, she kept her mouth shut.

After they pulled away from each other, she laced their fingers together and gave him a soft look.

“I should get home,” she said, her voice soft. “I’ve been gone all day. My parents don’t know where I am. But do you want me to come over later?”

He sniffed and gave a tiny nod.

She smiled gently. “Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.”

She turned around to leave, but froze when she saw Chloé standing in the doorway and staring at them with wide eyes that kept darting back and forth between Ladybug and Adrien.

“But… Adrien, I thought you were dating Marinette.”

Adrien coughed. “Um.”

Chloé’s eyes grew impossibly wider as her mouth fell open. “Ladybug, you-  _ Marinette?” _

Ladybug let out an awkward laugh. “Uh. Gotta go. See you later, Adrien.”

She pushed past Chloé and rushed out the door, immediately breaking out her yo-yo and soaring off into the night.

“Don’t think we’re not talking about this!” Chloé screamed after her.

***

Tom and Sabine were immensely relieved to see her. Apparently, Alya had come by looking for her an hour or two after she and Marinette had parted ways, and all three of them had panicked when they realized no one had seen her. When she finally walked in through the front door, she was met with bear hugs from her parents, relieved tears, and instructions to go call Alya immediately.

So, she did. She called Alya as soon as she had gotten up the stairs and into her room. Her friend answered immediately, and Marinette had to hold the phone a foot away from her ear to prevent hearing damage due to how loudly Alya was yelling at her.

“Do not scare me like that  _ ever _ again,” Alya demanded, her rant adorned with curse words. “Where even  _ were _ you?”

Marinette swallowed, her mind racing to think of a plausible explanation. “I, um, I was-”

_ “Wait,” _ Alya cut her off. “You’ve been missing since I showed you what was going on at Adrien’s house. Then you just  _ happen _ to come back home right after Gabriel is stopped. And who was at the mansion that whole time, probably with no cell phone because she’s a superhero with a skin-tight suit that doesn’t have room for pockets? That’s right:  _ Ladybug.” _

Marinette’s stomach lurched. “What are you saying?”

“You’re Ladybug, aren’t you?”

“What? No! Of course not!”

“Sure you are! It all fits- you’re always missing during akuma attacks, you were gone all day today,  _ and _ it makes even more sense why you were so freaked out when you found out about Adrien- you wanted to reveal your identities to each other in a nice, romantic way, not by accident!”

Marinette opened her mouth to protest, but finally just gave up and sighed. What was the point in fighting her on this? She was totally right. Besides, Chloé knew; Alya might as well know, too.

“Fine,” Marinette said, lowering her voice to a whisper. “You’re right. I  _ am _ Ladybug. And right now, I have to go comfort my boyfriend.”

Alya squealed excitedly. “I  _ totally _ forgive you for disappearing today.”

Marinette laughed. “Thanks, but I really do need to go.”

“Yes, girl, go to him! Love you. Bye.”

***

She spent the night at his house that night. When he visited her bedroom, he never stayed all night. They stayed up talking, watching movies, playing video games, and eating desserts, but they never fell asleep in each other’s arms and stayed there until morning. Of course, they had never been kidnapped and held hostage by Adrien’s dad before today, either. There was a first time for everything.

Marinette woke up to the sound of her morning alarm going off and instinctively hit the snooze button, then snuggled back into Adrien. Then, when she realized she was snuggling her  _ actual _ boyfriend and not a teddy bear or her imagination, she shot out of the bed.

“I have to get home,” she said, rushing to the window as Adrien sat up and groggily rubbed sleep out of his eyes. “My parents are gonna freak out if they come into my room and can’t find me.”

Adrien squinted at the alarm clock next to his bed. “We still have hours before school starts,” he said, his voice endearingly raspy. “Why are you up so early?”

“I have to set my alarm super early,” she explained as she pulled the window open. “Otherwise I’ll just go back to sleep and end up late to school.”

“But you’re always late to school anyways.”

She huffed. “I  _ know.” _

He climbed out of bed and grabbed her hand. “Are you sure you have to go?”

She paused with one foot already out the window and sighed. “I’m sure. But I’ll be back tonight, okay?”

He smiled. “Okay.”

He kissed her forehead, and her knees went weak. It was all she could do to keep from falling through the open window.

“Bye, Kitty,” she said fondly and ruffled his hair, then transformed and leapt through the window to make her way home.

***

In truth, she hadn’t expected him to show up at school that day. But, after all, he  _ did _ have a habit of proving her wrong, didn’t he?

Marinette arrived at school early for once, thanks to the fact that she had actually woken up to her first alarm. She was one of the first to enter the classroom, and as other students trickled in, the buzz of gossip grew louder and louder. She didn’t think she heard  _ one _ conversation that wasn’t about Adrien and Gabriel.

Then, when Adrien unexpectedly walked through the door, everyone fell silent.

He paused in the doorway. His face fell, clearly realizing that everyone was just talking about him.

“Hey,” Marinette said as he took his seat. “I didn’t expect you to come in today.”

He shrugged. “It was either come to school or be alone in that huge house with only my thoughts. What would  _ you _ have picked?”

Marinette nodded. “That’s fair.”

***

Later that day, Marinette was in the library scanning the shelves when she happened to hear Adrien’s name come up in a hushed conversation between a group of students at a nearby table.

“If you ask me, Adrien should be in jail, too,” one of them whispered. “There’s no way he didn’t know about this. He probably  _ helped  _ him.”

Marinette clenched her fists together, breathing deeply in an effort to calm down as anger coursed through her.

“You’re right,” another student agreed. “I always thought he seemed fake. I think the only time we’ve ever seen him act genuine was when he lost control and beat that kid up in the cafeteria.  _ That _ was real.”

“Exactly,” a third chimed in. “So we know from that day that he has violent tendencies. Plus, how can you live in a house with someone your whole life and  _ not _ know that they’ve been a supervillain for the past four years? It just doesn’t add up. He’s definitely his father’s minion or something. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabriel ‘mysteriously’ escapes from prison sometime in the next couple of weeks.”

Now, Marinette wasn’t necessarily a confrontational person by nature. But she  _ did _ stand up for injustice when necessary. And, just like Adrien had said about the day he got into that fight, adrenaline sort of took over. The next thing she knew, she had opened her mouth to let out a stream of curse words directed at the group of terrified-looking students. She managed to avoid getting physical, but by the time she was done with them, she knew for a fact that they wouldn’t be talking trash about her boyfriend in front of her ever again.

***

That afternoon, she and Adrien met up to go sit behind the school and hold hands. It wasn’t the most romantic of places, of course, but he didn’t want to go home, and neither of them wanted to be out in public amongst all the cameras and watchful eyes- especially not at a time like this.

However, by the time they returned to school the next morning, the internet was flooded with a leaked picture of them sitting hand-in-hand, her head on his shoulder. There was no denying that.

Once again, paparazzi followed Marinette to school, and her classmates hounded her and Adrien with questions. Then, when Chloé entered the classroom, everyone fell silent.

Chloé furrowed her brow. “What’s going on?”

Sabrina approached her hesitantly. “Have you seen the news this morning?”

“No. Why?”

Sabrina took a deep breath and pulled up something on her phone to show Chloé.

Chloé rolled her eyes. “Oh, for the love of-” she turned to glare at Marinette and Adrien. “How hard is it for you two to keep a secret?”

They both looked down at their laps in shame.

“Sorry, Chlo,” Adrien said sheepishly.

“Wait, did you  _ know _ that Adrien was cheating on you?” Sabrina asked.

Chloé groaned.  _ “He’s not cheating on me!” _ she exclaimed.

“What?” Sabrina asked, puzzled.

The blonde let out an exasperated sigh and abruptly left the classroom.

“She’s in denial,” someone whispered.

“No, she’s on Insta Live,” someone else said.

“What?” Adrien asked with a furrowed brow, turning around.

“She’s live on Instagram right now,” Max said, holding up his phone for proof. The whole class pulled up Instagram on their phones to watch.

“I’m tired of it,” Chloé was saying. “I’m tired of pretending to be someone I’m not just to please everyone else- particularly my father- and I’m tired of  _ my _ secret getting in the way of everyone else’s lives.” Adrien and Marinette glanced at each other. “So, world, here’s the truth: Adrien and I were never actually dating!” Marinette’s jaw dropped. Was she  _ actually _ doing this? “The truth is that he’s been my beard this whole time. Because, world, I am supremely,  _ incredibly _ gay. Like, I love women  _ so _ much.”

Several people gasped. Marinette saw Adrien smile.

“But,” Chloé continued. “My father, Mayor Bourgeois, is homophobic- no matter  _ what _ he says in the debates- and he thought it would look bad for him to have a gay daughter. So, we set up an agreement with the Agrestes: Adrien would pretend to be my boyfriend for PR for both of our fathers. Me being straight would benefit my dad, and Adrien dating the mayor’s daughter would benefit his dad. But I’m done with it. I don’t want to be my dad’s chess piece anymore. I’m more than good publicity, and I deserve to live my life. So, a recap: I’m, like, super gay. Chloé out.”

And the livestream ended as abruptly as it began.

Adrien laughed. “Finally.”

She smiled at him and couldn’t help herself.

“I love you,” she said quietly.

His face softened, his eyes shining with a new light she hadn’t seen since before the incident with Gabriel.

“I love you, too,” he told her.

***

When Marinette got home after school, her parents met her at the door.

“Are you  _ really _ dating Adrien Agreste?” Sabine asked. “We just dismissed the first photos as a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ thing, but these new ones are… not easy to ignore. So, is it true?”

Marinette felt herself smile. “Yeah. It’s true. We’ve been dating for a little while now.”

Tom laughed and hugged her, and Sabine beamed.

“Our little Marinette is dating a famous model!” Sabine exclaimed. “Oh, honey. We’re so happy for you.”

Marinette was happy, too. She was able to be with him in public now. They could go on real dates now that they knew each other’s identities. They didn’t have to worry about Hawkmoth anymore.

Every time she heard his voice, her heart melted all over again. Every time she saw his face, her heart fluttered. Every time he laughed, she fell a little bit more in love with him.

And every time she heard that familiar knock on her trapdoor, her heart soared a little higher.

**Author's Note:**

> "When the moon fell in love with the sun  
> All was golden in the sky  
> All was golden when the day met the night..."
> 
> My school is cancelled for the rest of the year, which would be cool if I wasn't a senior. I've been in quarantine since March 13 and I need things to do, so feel free to comment with feedback and/or request a oneshot! Thanks!
> 
> -Emma


End file.
